NDHPpatchBISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – The North Dakota Highway Patrol says its officers will be out in force during the Labor Day holiday weekend.

The agency is planning extra patrols, some of them focusing on alcohol violations, along with sobriety checkpoints in Burke, Cass, Ward and Williams counties. Troopers statewide will be working overtime hours.

The Patrol says the goal is to enhance safety.

The Stutsman County Sheriff’s Office had received a $20,000 grant from the North Dakota Department of Transportation to cover overtime pay for deputies to patrol area roads and highways over the Labor Day weekend.

On Thursday, the North Dakota Highway Patrol, along with the Fargo Police Department and Cass County Sheriff’s Office, conducted a sobriety checkpoint in Fargo on the I-94westbound off-ramp of the University Drive Exit 351. The checkpoint was conducted from 10:45 p.m. on August 28 until 2:30 a.m. this morning. A total of 242 vehicles passed through the checkpoint and 24 drivers were tested for impairment.

Officers at the checkpoint made the following arrests:

  • 3 – DUI (misdemeanors)
  • 3 – possession of marijuana (misdemeanors)
  • 2 – possession of amphetamines (felonies)
  • 2 – driving under suspension
  • 1 – open container
  • 1 – unlawful possession of marijuana paraphernalia (misdemeanor)
  • 1 – unlawful possession of methamphetamine paraphernalia (felony)

The purpose of sobriety checkpoints is to deter and detect impaired drivers. Typically, fifty percent of fatal crashes in North Dakota are alcohol-related each year.