Hazelwood Police Announce Dates for DWI Sobriety Checkpoints and Introduce New BAT Vehicle

You might want to remember to not drink and drive as the Police Department (HPD) will be conducting several DWI Sobriety Checkpoints in the near future.

Armed with federal grant funding, the police department is able to increase its enforcement efforts to remove impaired drivers off local roads and prevent them from causing deaths and serious injuries to innocent people.

One checkpoint occurred the weekend of May 13 and others are scheduled for the weekends of:

• August 26 - 27
• September 16 - 17

According to Sgt. Tim Burger, HPD Special Operations Group Supervisor, Traffic Management Team, patrols around Hazelwood West High School and surrounding neighborhoods will be increase the month of May as school and events surrounding it wrap up.

“What high school students should know is the fact that Missouri has a Zero Tolerance Law," said Hazelwood Police Chief Carl Wolf in a press release. "If you are under the age of 21, your license will be suspended if you’re caught driving with even a trace of alcohol in your system.”

Anyone who causes a fatal crash while intoxicated can be charged with involuntary manslaughter, a felony resulting in up to seven years of jail time. Other penalties include a $5,000 fine or both coupled together. Other consequences for impaired drivers who get caught include the following:

• 90-day licenses suspension
• $500 fine and up to six months jail time
• Year-long revocation of your driver’s license on a second offense
• $1,000 fine and  one year in jail time on second offense
• Ignition interlock device monitoring on multiple offenses
• $5,000 fine for multiple offenses
• License denial, and/or up to seven years in jail for multiple offenses

The department's will be used at each of their DWI Sobriety Checkpoints to provide for faster evaluation and processing of impaired drivers, according to the release.