HPD

Beginning Fri., April 19 through Sat., April 20, the Hays Police Department (HPD) will join other law enforcement agencies in Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, Arkansas, Missouri and Oklahoma to stop what has been an increasing epidemic for the past several years.

In an effort to change this trend, law enforcement across the six-state area will be extra-vigilant when patrolling around city, state and federal highways. Deaths and injuries continue to increase from both alcohol and drug impaired drivers. Regardless of whether a drug is legal or illegal, it’s a serious crime to drive while impaired by any drug. We can no longer share our roadways with these drug impaired drivers. Impaired driving is not a victimless crime.

Additional officers will be out patrolling, looking for impaired drivers in Hays. Officers will issue citations to any individual who refuses to obey the traffic laws, whether it is for driving while impaired, for speeding, texting, or failing to buckle up. If a suspected violator refuses to submit to a blood test, a search warrant may be obtained for that individual’s blood.

We are using 4/20 as a date to draw attention to the drugged driving epidemic, simply because it’s the day where people on 4/20 at 4:20 PM light up their drugs as a celebration. JAMA (Journal of American Medicine Association) has found a 12% increase in the relative risk of a fatal crash compared to identical time intervals on control days.

Even one death is unacceptable. Please don’t drive while impaired, slow down, put the phone away or turn it off, and always buckle up.

Help keep our streets safe.