Concord police launch special team to target DWIs

CONCORD, N.C. — The Concord Police Department will launch a special team dedicated to cracking down on drivers under the influence.

Capt. Todd McGhee told Channel 9 he will lead the department's new DWI Task Force, which is made up of six officers who will come in on their off days to strategize and implement practices to reduce impaired driving.

"Our overall goal is zero alcohol-related crashes, zero alcohol-related deaths. That's why we come to work. That's why we do what we do," McGhee explained.

The idea for the task force came from Public Safety Unit Officer Steven Zollars, who has been a drug-identification expert and has worked DWI crashes for 11 years. He said his extensive experience with tragedies caused by intoxicated drivers and seeing the success of task forces within other departments, led him to pitch the idea to Chief Gary Gacek.

"There's people whose families will be impacted for the rest of their lives based on a decision that's completely avoidable," Zollars said. "It's very important to me."

The team will conduct high-visibility operations in locations the department's data shows need the most attention.

Those operations could include unannounced license checkpoints and saturation patrols.

"We're going to be out there, and we're not going to advertise we're there," McGhee explained. "We want the public to know we are doing the task force to improve traffic safety and to detect and arrest those who don't heed the warnings."

The task force will begin operations in December.

Cox Media Group