Gilroy police officers Cpl. Jim Callahan and Sgt. Chad
Gallacinao were honored Thursday afternoon at an ”Avoid the 13”
ceremony in Mountain View. Each made four arrests during the annual
anti-drunk driving campaign.
Gilroy police officers Cpl. Jim Callahan and Sgt. Chad Gallacinao were honored Thursday afternoon at an ”Avoid the 13” ceremony in Mountain View. Each made four arrests during the annual anti-drunk driving campaign.
They were two of 88 officers honored for their efforts.
Between Dec. 12, 2003 and Jan. 2 of this year, Santa Clara County agencies increased patrolling and set up sobriety checkpoints as part of the campaign. Educational flyers and posters bearing the familiar catchphrase ”designate or incarcerate” where distributed.
Officers who make four or more arrests during the annual campaign were presented a chrome ”Deuce Pin.” During this past holiday season, 870 drivers were arrested in Santa Clara County on suspicion of driving under the influence. Nineteen of those were in Gilroy. There were no DUI-related fatalities during the campaign period, though there were 79 DUI-related collisions and an additional 26 traffic incidents involving injury.
”If it wasn’t for Avoid the 13, we wouldn’t have the checkpoints for sobriety,” said Joseph Crivello, the officer that organizes Gilroy’s participation in the annual campaign. ”It would be up to the individual officers to watch for DUIs.”
Crivello added that the incidences of drunk driving have decreased in the past decade, but may be inching up in recent years.
Officer Robert Foster from the San Jose Police Department was honored as “deuce king” for the highest number of arrests over the 22-day campaign. He made 28 DUI arrests.
Started in 1974, Avoid the 13 is a pioneering effort originally involving 13 police departments, sheriffs departments, campus police and the California Highway Patrol. It has since increased to include 16 agencies and spawned spin-offs in neighboring counties, such as Avoid the 23 in San Mateo County and Avoid the 15 in Monterey County.
For more information, visit the Avoid the 13 Web site at www.wvmccd.cc.ca.us/wvmccd/police/avoid-13.
