Missoula Adding Extra DUI Enforcement Through Labor Day

The city of Missoula is joining a national campaign called the “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” initiative.

"It's going to run through September 2," said Police Detective Sgt. Greg Amundsen. "It is targeting all of the travel and extra driving people do over the Labor Day holiday. What's going to happen is that through the Montana Department of Transportation and through what's called the S.T.E.P. grant, we're going to be hiring officers on shifts beyond their regular patrols to go out and enforce D.U.I and seat belt laws."

Amundsen says Montana has a particular problem with drunk driving.

In both the state of Montana and Missoula, impaired driving or drunk driving has a significant impact," Amundsen said. "A lot of your fatal crashes in the state of Montana involve alcohol and impaired drivers: a significant number of them."

Amundsen says that so far, at least six officers have signed up with extra shifts and more may do so in the coming days.