Nevada Highway Patrol receives grants to expand DUI patrols

The Nevada Highway Patrol has been awarded a total of $239,529 in grants to expand DUI enforcement efforts.

The agency will get $87,529 to purchase Preliminary Breath Test machines for troopers. PBTs are portable, battery-powered breathalyzers and, while their results aren’t admissible in court, experts say they give an officer a clear indication how much alcohol a driver has consumed.

In addition, NHP received $150,000 from the Nevada Office of Traffic Safety to participate in what they call DUI Saturation Patrols. Saturation Patrols are high visibility, zero tolerance events normally combining efforts of multiple agencies to catch impaired drivers.

The grant will support extra patrols from this month through September of next year.