Drunken drivers just got easier to catch in Washington County and the South Hills, as a newly formed Washington County DUI Task Force recently launched its first sobriety checkpoint.

Coordinated by the Peters Township Police Department and Chief Harry Fruecht, the new task force has been operating roving patrols since late last year, until enough grant money was secured to purchase items necessary for a mobile sobriety checkpoint.

Local members of the task force include police departments from Washington, Cecil, North Strabane, North Franklin, Burgettstown and Smith. The McDonald and Mount Pleasant police departments have applied for membership and are awaiting approval from the state Department of Transportation, Chief Fruecht said.

Although there are DUI task forces in the South Hills and Mt. Lebanon, Chief Fruecht said detection in Washington County was becoming more critical because of the concert venues, including the Pepsi Roadhouse, Post-Gazette Pavilion and Consol Energy Field.

Six of the police departments affected by those venues have joined the task force, which used a $46,000 Department of Transportation grant to purchase a utility trailer, lighting and safety equipment, and serology test kits, allowing an on-site phlebotomist to test for drugs and alcohol immediately.

"We are mobile checkpoints," said Chief Fruecht.

The first checkpoint, held in mid-June on East McMurray Road in Peters, resulted in two DUI arrests, two traffic citations and several warnings.

Chief Fruecht said 16 officers from the task force, along with state police and the Washington County Department of Probation and Parole, stopped 800 of nearly 1,300 vehicles in front of the Peters Township High School on the night of June 16, the day after graduation ceremonies there.

The idea, he said, wasn't so much to trap drunken drivers as it was to send a message to the community that police won't tolerate impaired driving.

"They were thanking us," he said of motorists. "I think that makes a big difference."

The checkpoint is one of several that will be conducted throughout the county before September, along with continued roving patrols, which employ police who seek out impaired drivers to the exclusion of all else, except in cases of emergency.

"They are dedicated to DUI enforcement," Chief Fruecht said.

The chief is wrapping up preparations for next year's grant request, which he said should be between $37,000 to $40,000. The majority of the expense is personnel costs, as participating officers are paid according to the overtime wages dictated by each department.

It isn't just Peters that's tightening up on drunken and impaired driving this summer.

A sobriety checkpoint last weekend by the Mt. Lebanon Area DUI Task Force on Greentree Road in Scott netted five DUI arrests, six traffic citations and several other arrests for drug possession, disorderly conduct and underage drinking.

That task force includes departments from Baldwin, Bridgeville, Castle Shannon, Dormont, Green Tree, Scott and South Fayette.

Planners first considered expanding the Mt. Lebanon organization to include Peters and other nearby municipalities, but Cathy Tress, Western Pennsylvania law enforcement director with the Pennsylvania DUI Association, said the concert venues and similar concerns prompted her organization to seek a separate county task force.

Peters, she said, was the logical choice to coordinate the program because it's one of the largest police forces in the area.

"Chief Fruecht had a willingness to take on the extra burden, the extra work and coordinate it," Ms. Tress said.

The Pennsylvania DUI Association is a nonprofit professional organization that coordinates impaired driving programs, including some for the Department of Transportation, and oversees and provides services for funded municipal DUI task forces.

Chief Fruecht said he hopes the patrols and checkpoints will serve as a wake-up call for motorists, who can expect police to also look for seat belt use, aggressive driving and safety violations.

"It's about making people think. It's not just about arrest," Chief Fruecht said. "We're trying to make the road safer as a whole. Stop and think before you drink."

First Published: July 6, 2007, 10:15 a.m.