SP Weekly: Week of Sept. 23

Coinciding with the start of the ASU fall semester in August, the Tempe Police Department launched Operation Safe and Sober to deal with underage drinking by "targeting criminal behavior” associated with heavy drinking. Tempe Police Chief Tom Ryff personally reached out to Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio for assistance because of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office's DUI Enforcement Task Force. Sheriff Arpaio wants students to have a good time while they are in college, but doesn't want them ending up in jail for poor decisions with alcohol or drugs. Canvasing a 2-mile radius around the campus, Tempe police, with the help from eight other local law enforcement agencies, arrested 66 for extreme DUI (.15 Blood Alcohol Concentration) and 7 for super extreme DUI (.20 Blood Alcohol Concentration) along with 67 drug related DUI arrests in the first phase of the operation ending on August 31. A second phase was launched September 12 and concluded September 14. The total arrests for both phases was 1,772. Tempe Police has not released a date for a third phase to the alcohol "suppression sweeps," but is placing more officers around the Tempe campus due to four recently occurring sexual assaults in the same area. Credits: Editor- Courtland Jeffrey, Daniel Santa Cruz Producer- Erin O'Connor Reporter- Riis Valcho Videographers- Daniel Santa Cruz, Dominick DiFurio