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HELLO. WELCOME TO THE FHDA POLICE WEB PAGES |
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Avoid the 13
Avoid the 13 is the holiday law enforcement crackdown against drinking drivers in Santa Clara County. It is regarded as a pioneer and a national model for police campaign's against the drinking driver and has six spin-off campaigns. It has completed its 22nd year. The campaign runs from the weekend before Christmas to the day after New Year's Day, approximately two and a half weeks. Neighboring San Mateo County has adopted Avoid the 13's methods to form Avoid the 23. Together, the two campaigns unite 41 police departments to form a solid wall of 4,100 determined, well-trained and serious police officers stretching from Daly City to Gilroy. Methods are strict enforcement and public education. Last year, departments ran roadside sobriety checkpoints, scheduled hundreds of hours of overtime, formed special teams, rescheduled police patrols to coincide with prime drinking-driver times and emphasized drinking-driver enforcement with officers on regular patrol. All law enforcement agencies in the county participate in the campaign. They include three offices of the California Highway Patrol, the Santa Clara County Sheriffs Office, police in Campbell, Gilroy, Los Altos, Los Gatos, Milpitas, Morgan Hill, Mountain View, San Jose, Santa Clara and Sunnyvale as well as police on the campuses of West Valley College, Mission College and San Jose State University. Since Avoid the 13 began in 1974, death totals and accident totals have plummeted, while arrest totals have risen. Thirteen people died in the campaign's first year and 11 were killed in the 1978-79 campaign. Since then, death totals have ranged from zero to three. A woman was killed in San Jose ten minutes before the end of the 1994-95 campaign. Accident totals have dropped from 196 in 1979-80 to 43 in 1994-95. Since 1979, the accident average has been 78 a year. Arrests began at 597, peaked in the mid-1980's and now stand at 1,064. Press coverage and public information is a force multiplier for law enforcement. The campaign's public information campaign saturated the Bay Area over the holidays. Avoid the 13 campaign coverage on television, on radio or in the newspapers an average of 9 times a day during the campaign period. Avoid the 13's public education effort has won 10 regional and national public relations awards. Alpha Cab Company of San Jose gave about 100 free rides home to people who questioned their own sobriety. |
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