N.H. Police to Get New Vehicle to Fight Drunken Driving

New Hampshire police are getting a new tool in their fight to keep drunken drivers off the roads.

The mobile-home-sized, rolling command post — complete with blood-testing machines, holding cells and room for bail bondsmen and fingerprinting equipment –should start operating late this summer, according to Peter Thomson, head of the state Highway Safety Agency.

“We’re excited about this because in the last number of years we’ve started doing a lot of sobriety checkpoints throughout the state,” Thomson says.

The roughly $450,000 for the vehicle will come through Thomson’s agency.

Thomson says the vehicle will speed up processing after arrests.

“It’s also essentially a roving billboard to urge people not to drink and drive,” he said.

The exact message hasn’t been determined, but Thompson expects it to be something like, “If you booze it, you may lose it.”

Thomson said Allenstown Police Chief Shaun Mulholland was the “sparkplug” for the project, which will benefit police departments around the state.

Portsmouth Police Lt. Fred Hoysradt, who directs his city’s traffic enforcement programs, said state liquor law enforcement officers will operate the vehicle, which he hopes will do more deterrence than enforcement.

“It will be a good day when we go out and do a checkpoint and screen 500 vehicles and don’t arrest any drivers,” Hoysradt said.

___

Information from: Foster’s Daily Democrat,
http://www.fosters.com