Suffolk County police to crack down on drunk and drugged driving over Memorial Day weekend
SUFFOLK COUNTY, Long Island (WABC) -- Authorities in Suffolk County are working to crack down on both drunk and drugged driving this Memorial Day weekend.
In a place where glass and metal are collected, repurposed and cars that are seized go to die, police and prosecutors are now sending a message loud and clear.
They are sending a message to anyone in Suffolk County who might get behind the wheel impaired.
"Not only will you lose your car, it's unlikely that you'll get it back, we'll crush it, and turn it into some valuable metal products," said Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine.
They also came to demonstrate a brand new tool in their arsenal against drugged driving.
It's a swab test called SoToxa, already used in 23 other jurisdictions, but this is the first one in our area to battle a growing problem on the roads for law enforcement.
"So it does seven categories for seven types of drugs, so amphetamine, methamphetamine, cocaine, benzodiazepines, THC, opiates like heroin and opioids like fentanyl," said Richard Park with the Suffolk County Police Department.
The challenge for authorities in prosecuting drivers who may be impaired by drugs is really twofold.
First, laws need to better identify current drugs and secondly, they need to establish levels of impairment.
"Everybody's out there on the roadways, the smell of people smoking marijuana in their cars, very frustrating for law enforcement not to be able to take action on this," said Suffolk County Police Commissioner Kevin Catalina.
Suffolk County's police commissioner added that they'll be beefing up patrols on the waterways as well and adding nine more marine patrol officers as of this weekend, plus another nine in a month and five more out on the highways.
The county, with its miles and miles of roads, is routinely among the highest in the state for drunk driving fatalities and authorities are working hard to change that with each passing summer season.
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