A national campaign is under way to curtail impaired driving and local police departments are out in force.
Ball State University, Delaware County Sheriff's Department and Muncie officers will have increased patrols until Sept. 9.
Gene Burton, Ball State's director of Public Safety, said the initiative is one part of a blitz that also focuses on seat belt and child safety throughout the year.
He said during this time more officers are driving around campus.
"Generally, there are enforcement targets, but the ultimate goal is to make streets safer for others," he said.
Burton said the last couple of years there has been a decrease in the number of highway injuries and fatalities, but he did not have an answer for how many people his officers stopped.
Sgt. Bradley Arey of the Muncie Police Department said his department, in conjunction with the Yorktown, Daleville and Delaware County departments, had 18 officers working the street last weekend from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m. He said in that time, the officers made about 18 driving under the influence of alcohol arrests or about one person every two and one-half hours. The number of arrests is a little higher than previous years, he said.
"Delaware County is pretty high compared to throughout the state," Arey said. "We're in the top six or seven counties."
He said it is a good thing that the county is ranked higher because it means the officers are following the campaign's goal to get more drunken drivers off the roads.
Arlan Johnson, a Delaware County Sheriff's Department lieutenant, said the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration runs the initiative. That office gives money to each state, which in turn divides the money to each agency. He did not give an amount for how much his agency received.
In this case, the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute and the Governor's Council on Impaired and Dangerous Driving paid for the campaign, and the money is split among about 400 agencies throughout the state.
The Delaware County Sheriff's Department has been involved for about 14 years, Johnson said.
"The motto is 'Drunk Driving. Over the Limit. Under Arrest,'" he said. "It's not just about having an accident and killing someone, it's also about having an accident and injuring someone. We're not against going to parties and drinking, but don't get behind the wheel."
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