LAPD flood streets to look for impaired drivers during Thanksgiving

LOS ANGELES (CNS) – The Los Angeles Police Department will be on the lookout for impaired drivers over the Thanksgiving holiday, erecting checkpoints and conducting saturation patrols in hopes of preventing people who drink from getting behind the wheel.

The LAPD will be staffing a checkpoint from 8 p.m. Friday to 1 a.m. Saturday near Osborne Street and Laurel Canyon Boulevard in Pacoima.

Officers in the department’s Central Bureau will have a saturation patrol in effect — flooding the area with officers searching for impaired drivers — beginning at 4 p.m. Saturday and stretching into the early morning hours.

Officers taking part in the enforcement efforts will also be checking to ensure motorists are licensed.

According to the LAPD, 802 people died in California in 2012 due to drunken driving, with more than 10,000 deaths reported nationally that year.