Come St. Patrick’s Day weekend, the Vernon Hills Police Department will put extra officers on patrol to target drunken drivers.
“Since St. Patrick’s Day falls on a Friday this year, we are taking extra precautions to ensure the safety of the motorists,” Acting Police Chief John Kincaid said. “We hope that everyone, including partygoers, acts responsibly. However, if they don’t, we will do our best to catch them.”
Overtime for the officers, who will be on duty Friday and Saturday, is being covered by a grant from the Lake County Stayin’ Alive Task Force, formed in 1997 to help reduce traffic-related deaths and injuries, Kincaid said. The Illinois Department of Transportation funds the grant.
The grant will also be used for additional saturation patrols later in the year as well as a DUI sobriety checkpoint scheduled for the Memorial Day weekend.
Vernon Hills was ranked 12th in the state in DUI arrests in 1998.