The Newton County Sheriff's Office and the Covington Police Department reported eight arrests for driving under the influence and several noise complaints this Memorial Day weekend.
With the warmer weather, police departments do not expect the increase in DUI arrests and noise complaints to lessen.
Covington Police Department's Director of Public Safety Stacey Cotton said warmer weather tends to go hand-in-hand with increases in DUI arrests and noise complaints.
Georgia State Patrol spokesman Gordy Wright said the GSP sees similar activity increase with warmer weather.
"Typically when the weather is nice on a holiday weekend, there is an increase in the number of impaired drivers on the roadways," Wright said.
In total, the county and city police arrested eight people for driving under the influence and one for public intoxication, according to crime reports released by the departments.
The CPD itself only reported one arrest for DUI, received three calls for suspected drunk driving, said Detective Daniel Seals. The Covington police also reported four calls for noise complaints including one at Turner Lake Park.
The arrests the city police made for D.U.I. was down this year. In 2011, three people were arrested for D.U.I. last Memorial Day weekend.
Seals said the department had a larger traffic unit last year which explains the higher number of arrests. Those officers were specially designated to target drunk drivers.
In an average month, Covington police arrest nine to 10 people for driving under the influence.
Three hundred and one people statewide were arrested for driving under the influence this Memorial Day weekend by the Georgia State Patrol, said Wright. These numbers were calculated by counting how many arrests were made from 6 p.m. on Friday to midnight on Monday.
To combat the spike in activity over such holiday weekends, the GSP "deploy their troopers heavily during the late afternoons, evenings, and early morning hours which are the times when impaired drivers are most likely on the roads," Wright said.
Cotton said his department adjusts schedules to ensure the best coverage.
