New Year’s revelers are being put on notice: don’t drink and drive. KERA’s BJ Austin says police across North Texas will be out in force looking for suspected drunk drivers, and the Tarrant County District Attorney is taking a new tack this year.
The Tarrant County District Attorney’s office plans to give New Year’s partiers charged with DWI something extra to end the holiday season: publicity. The office will publish the names and ages of those arrested and subsequently charged with driving while intoxicated on its website. Assistant district Attorney Richard Alpert says he hopes the initiative will convince some people NOT to roll the dice and drive drunk. Alpert says perhaps putting the DWI list on online for friends and neighbors to see will be the catalyst to make people think twice before getting behind the wheel.
Alpert says many North Texas law enforcement agencies will also be doing a No Refusal Weekend. Dallas Police say theirs will start at 6pm Friday and end at 6am Monday January 2nd. No refusal means anyone refusing to take a breath test after being stopped on suspicion of drunk driving will have blood drawn under a court order. Richard Alpert says there is no way to hide intoxication on a No Refusal Weekend.
