Police turned up the heat on impaired drivers in Bonney Lake and Sumner Feb. 26 during a DUI sweep that sent 27 drivers to jail.

Eleven were arrested for DUI and an additional eight were arrested on felony and misdemeanor drug charges. Eight others were arrested on other misdemeanor and felony charges, including four who had non-alcohol and drug-related warrants out for their arrest.

The DUI and traffic safety sweep in the cities of Bonney Lake and Sumner and on Highway 410 was conducted by the Tacoma Pierce County DUI and Traffic Safety Task Force.

“Our focus Friday night was to remove impaired drivers from the road who could have killed someone if we had not arrested them,” said Mike Mitchell, chief of the Bonney Lake Police Department. “Just as importantly, we removed quite a few other dangerous people from the community.”

A total of 276 drivers were stopped for unsafe driving by the 23 officers and deputies who worked the patrol. Eight-four of those drivers were cited for a variety of traffic safety violations that mostly involved negligent driving, speeding, lack of insurance, driving with a suspended license and failing to stop at traffic lights.

According to John Cheesman, chief of the Fircrest Police Department and chairman of the Tacoma Pierce County DUI and Traffic Safety Task Force, there’s a tendency for drivers with off-the-road criminal records to commit more on-the- road violations, including DUI.

“Drivers stopped for dangerous driving during our high-visibility patrols sometimes ask officers why police don’t go after murderers, or ‘real’ criminals instead,” Cheesman added. “I tell them that law enforcement attempts to intervene whenever someone is threatening to kill another. Approximately 190 people were murdered in Washington in 2008; 194 were killed in a crash in which an impaired driver was behind the wheel.”

Participating in the February 26 DUI emphasis patrol in addition to the Bonney Lake and Sumner Police Departments, was the Milton, Tacoma, Puyallup, Buckley, Sumner, Fife, and Lakewood Police Departments along with the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department and the Washington State Liquor Control Board. Half of the overtime funds for the patrol were supplied by the participating law enforcement agencies. The remainder of the funds were provided by the Washington Traffic Safety Commission.

More information about the task force is available at http://www.piercecountywa.org/pc/services/lawjust/dui/dui.htm.