One or more checkpoints will emphasize the community's policy on drinking and driving
COLUMBIA – The MU Police Department will conduct its first vehicle inspections on or near MU, coinciding with the first week of classes. The inspection is part of at least one DWI checkpoint during a 10-day period.
Officers will be present any time between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m. from Aug. 20 to 30 to perform the inspections.
The checkpoint project is part of “You Drink & Drive, You Lose,” a DWI enforcement campaign that will bring together the MU Police Department, the Boone County Sheriff’s Department, the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the Columbia Police Department.
Officials will block off a certain area and inspect a predetermined number of cars in search of intoxicated drivers and other violations, MU Police Chief Brian Weimer said Thursday. Exact locations are unknown.
Weimer said officers' presence will be a reminder that law enforcement takes drinking and driving very seriously.
“We are very fortunate to have the county, city and highway departments helping and working closely together to combat drinking and driving,” Weimer said.
Law enforcement officials have also prepared for the August influx of college students by putting out information hammering home their point: that the MU Police Department will not tolerate alcohol-related driving offenses in the community.
MU Police officers have participated in checkpoints in the past, but this is the first time they will sponsor one, Weimer said.