Police Readying for No-Refusal Weekend in Irving

Additional officers will be patrolling the city, looking for drunken drivers

The Irving Police Department is getting ready for a no-refusal weekend as a part of the state's "Drink. Drive. Go to Jail" campaign.

Irving police said they've made 1,100 DWI arrests so far in 2012. They average about 20 arrests during each "No Refusal" weekend.

Police hope to send a strong message out to the community to not drink and drive.

Police spokesman John Argumaniz showed NBC 5 how their training center at the North Station will be converted into a DWI processing center this weekend.

"In these no refusals, they're only offered a blood test. If they refuse to submit a blood sample, then there is a judge who is on site who will look at a search warrant which will be written by the police officer and authorize the taking of the blood sample," he said.

Argumaniz said a nurse will also be on site to draw blood.

He said a process that usually takes hours could be completed as quickly as 30 minutes during the weekend.

He also said about 25 additional officers, including state troopers, will be out looking for impaired drivers.

"When you select someone who is a designated driver, that isn't the person who has consumed the least amount of alcohol. That's the person who has consumed no alcohol," he said.

Irving has had a couple of high-profile DWI crashes this year. In January, the driver of a Porsche crashed into a guardrail and plunged the vehicle into a canal, killing all three people inside. In early December, Cowboys player Josh Brent was charged with intoxication manslaughter after a one-car crash killed his friend and teammate Jerry Brown Jr.

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