Police to increase patrols this holiday weekend

The Yuma Police Department plans to step up patrols in the city over the Memorial Day holiday weekend to catch drunken drivers.

Additional officers and extended shifts will be used to better help the department detect and apprehend impaired drivers, the department said Tuesday in a news release.

Almost 42 percent of fatal accidents in Arizona involve impaired drivers on holiday weekends, according to police.

YPD's period of increased enforcement will begin Friday and continue through Monday.

Other agencies are also planning beefed up enforcement in different places over the holiday weekend.

The Yuma County Sheriff's Office plans to have extra deputies on duty at Martinez Lake, which traditionally has large crowds of boaters and other water enthusiasts over the Memorial Day weekend.

The sheriff's office will have the normal number of deputies on duty on county roads over the holiday weekend, sheriff's Capt. Eben Bratcher said.

The Arizona Department of Public Safety will have its normal staffing of officers in the Yuma area but plans a beefed up presence on Interstate 8 in the Quartzsite area, Sgt. Mike McLaren of the Yuma DPS office said.

In the Winterhaven area, the California Highway Patrol says it will have additional officers on the roads in what is called a "maximum enforcement period" that will begin at 6 p.m. Friday and continue through midnight Monday.