21 held for DUI in Petaluma

An 18-day, countywide effort to apprehend drunken drivers ended at midnight on Labor Day and resulted in 21 arrests of people driving under the influence in Petaluma.

No crashes with injuries occurred in Petaluma, and Police Sgt. Ken Savano attributed that to the Sonoma County DUI Task Force's increased efforts. Since 2009, arrests for driving under the influence have gone up, while accidents resulting from drunken driving have decreased, Savano said. There have been no fatal crashes in that time period.

"The AVOID campaign is clearly working," Savano said. AVOID is a California anti-drunken driving campaign that brings together law enforcement agencies by county to tackle the issue. The Sonoma County task force, called AVOID the 13, is led by the Petaluma Police Department and consists of 13 law enforcement agencies working together to reduce alcohol-related crashes and fatalities.

Across Sonoma county, 175 were arrested for drunken driving over the course of the task force's summer campaign. Five crashes resulted in injuries around the county.