Some area police ramp up for New Year’s Eve

Several area police departments will be patrolling the streets in greater numbers Saturday night to combat drunken driving and other offenses that typically rise on New Year’s Eve.While Swampscott, Revere and Lynnfield Police said they had nothing significant planned, several local departments will be on the lookout for drunken drivers and other illegal activity more so than usual for the holiday.”We’ll be fully staffed and our officers will be diligently patrolling looking for any signs of inebriated people,” Salem Police Lt. Conrad Prosniewski said Thursday.According to Prosniewski, New Year’s Eve has become less of a “drinking holiday” in recent years, partly because the public is so aware of higher police presence, but Salem Police will still do their best to prevent tragedy.”Our incidents have gone down, I think, because of changes in the laws and in people’s attitudes, but that doesn’t change us from being cautious and having our ears and eyes open,” he said. “It’s the holiday season as a whole that brings out drunk drivers.”Lynn Police Lt. Christopher Kelly said Lynn will be deploying extra marked units to enforce all traffic violations, especially drunken driving.”We will be putting on extra patrols for New Year’s Eve,” Kelly said. “We traditionally increase our staffing levels starting at 5 p.m. and continue through 9 a.m. the next day.”Marblehead Police Chief Robert Picariello said his department would have increased patrols, but declined to comment further. Peabody and Saugus Police also declined to comment.The State Police, who are required to announce all sobriety checkpoints, had not announced any New Year’s Eve plans by Thursday night.Taylor Provostr may be reached at [email protected]