ARIZONA, USA — Thursday marks the kick-off of the Statewide Holiday DUI Task Force.
The Arizona Governor's Office of Highway Safety (GOHS) has been running the campaign for more than 20 years to make our streets safer.
Alberto Gutier, Director of the Governor's Office of Highway Safety, said that last year 4,529 DUI arrests were made in our state in the holiday task force time frame.
"What we’re seeing is the number of DUI arrests has gone up {over the years} in that time period," he explained. "We’re seeing an increase, which really scares me big time, is DUI drug arrests."
Gutier pulled numbers from the last four years and said there has been a steady increase.
"We see more traffic stops, people who are impaired by marijuana and other things, that’s very scary between fentanyl and drugs and everything else."
More than 80 agencies around the state are participating in the task force that runs until New Years.
"We don’t do checkpoints in Arizona, we do saturation patrols," Gutier said. "For example what will happen is, a number of officers will get together in an area within their town or two-three towns together, and they’ll go out looking for drivers and that’s what saturation patrols are all about."
Gutier will be joined by state agency directors, NHTSA officials, Police chiefs, County sheriffs, Law enforcement agency officers, troopers and deputies, Fire departments, representatives from the restaurant association and liquor distributors, and more to present the campaign Thursday at 11 a.m.
RELATED: 'We love you so much Hans': Downtown Phoenix ambassador dies after hit by alleged drunk driver
Latest Arizona News
Catch up on the latest news and stories on our 12 News YouTube playlist here.