Wichita Police Preparing For New Year’s Eve

Fri, December 30, 2011

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KMUW / Fletcher Powell

As with most years, the WPD will be working to make sure they have enough officers on the streets in order to deal with the increased level of traffic and numbers of partygoers attending New Year’s celebrations. Police Lieutenant Doug Nolte says that while much of this will be focused on being proactive regarding DUI enforcement and underage drinking, Wichitans should also be aware of less obvious dangers.

Nolte: Because of the celebration, a lot of people will shoot fireworks, will shoot firearms up into the air, and so we’re always encouraging people to recognize that what goes up comes down, and so we highly discourage that kind of celebration. Because people can get hurt and/or killed if a bullet were to land somewhere it shouldn’t.

Nolte says that, for those who are planning on going out to celebrate, one of the most important parts of the evening is simply having a plan for getting home safely.

Nolte: A lot of people know and take great pains to plan their evening but they forget that they’ve got to get home. So we recommend having that designated driver, having a plan for a ride home, someone that hasn’t been drinking.

Unlike past years, AAA will not be offering free rides to partygoers on New Year’s Eve.