CPD celebrates successful July 4, cracks down on DUI enforcement

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) — With the Fourth of July holiday being over, officials with the Chattanooga Police Department (CPD) say they’re buckling down on DUI enforcement.

Nearly one-third of deadly traffic accidents nationwide involve a driver under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

That adds up to about 11,000 deaths a year.

Chattanooga police have come up with a proactive approach to keep drunk drivers off our roads.

“That’s what we’re trying to do. Like we mentioned earlier, NET’s been really effective throughout the year,” Police Chief Scruggs said. “It’s been a really good force in mitigating the bad in years past. We’ve been more proactive in our enforcement strategies to include DUI.”

According to the Tennessee Highway Safety Office, 41% of deadly crashes involving teenagers happen between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m.

That’s when Chattanooga Police will be extra vigilant.

“You know this year, year to date we’re up 33% in proactive DUI enforcement and that’s not to say more folks participate in bad behavior; that’s just saying there are more of us out there seeking out bad actors to get safe drivers on the road and get bad drivers off the road,” Chief Scruggs continued.

The good news is that DUI’s are slowly declining in Chattanooga. But Chattanooga Police will keep up special operations throughout the Summer.

Noise complaints were the most common calls over the Fourth of July holiday.

“So, the most common complaint that came in was fireworks past the 12:30 cut off time. That’s going to happen, even though we preach and hope it wouldn’t happen. We always got to have folks who have some leftover fireworks, and they just couldn’t put them back on the shelf. We dealt with those complaints when they came up,” Scruggs added.

CPD officials say the Fourth of July holiday was overall successful.