No arrests during first OVI checkpoints since pandemic started

The Butler County OVI Task Force conducted an OVI checkpoint Dec. 15 in West Chester.

The Butler County OVI Task Force conducted an OVI checkpoint Dec. 15 in West Chester.

No arrests were made or citations issued during the first two Butler County OVI checkpoints to be conducted since the start of the coronavirus pandemic in March.

A checkpoint was held from 8:15 to 11:45 p.m. Friday in West Chester Twp., on Tylersville Road at Voice of America. Task Force coordinator Pete Reising said 737 vehicles passed through and 709 vehicles were checked.

Reising said one vehicle was diverted for further investigation but no one was arrested and citations were not issued.

Results were similar for the checkpoint in Middletown on Saturday night, when 172 cars were checked. It was held from 10:45 p.m. Saturday to 1:30 a.m. Sunday on northbound University Boulevard (Ohio 122) at First Avenue.

Reising said the checkpoints were held along with saturation patrols and are part of a continuing effort to reduce OVI-related crashes resulting in injuries and fatalities.

The checkpoints were the first to be staged since February.

“The choice to do checkpoints during the pandemic was up to the individual police agencies,” Reising said. “So there were no checkpoints in March, April, May and June.”

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