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Our View: Meeting the onslaught

More often than not, law enforcement officials in the Truckee-Tahoe region get a bad rap. They are either over-the-top in their efforts or not doing enough. The long Fourth of July holiday weekend was a perfect example of damned if they did, damned if they didn’t.

Between Donner Lake, Tahoe, popular reservoirs, a bunch of fireworks displays and mountain fun, it was foreseeable that the area would be overrun by visitors, many of whom would be in full-on party mode. To meet the onslaught, local law enforcement planned ahead by beefing up the number of officers on our roads, lakes and river banks.

As usual on the Fourth throughout the state, the California Highway Patrol had every available officer on the streets. And for Tahoe-Truckee that extra effort netted some 40 arrests over the three-day holiday. And it’s not hard to guess what, as one CHP officer said, the common thread was between those arrests ” alcohol.



We’d venture to guess the arrest numbers would have been higher had the law enforcement presence not been visible along the banks of the Truckee River to enforce an alcohol ban instituted over the weekend.

Yes, for some people it smacks of a buzz-kill police state. But when it comes to partying responsibly, some of our visitors and residents carry a clue, others are clueless. In this day and age, 40 alcohol-related arrests over three days favors the latter.



The display of law enforcement was appreciated by most, unless of course you happened to be parked in the wrong place or pulled over after having a few too many. But instead of accolades what’s usually heard are complaints.

On the other hand, had the various agencies not planned ahead or the booze ban not put in place, think of the uproar that would have been heard.

Again, the added number of officers may have appeared to be too much for some folks, but the thing is they were just doing their jobs. Imagine what would happen around here during a holiday weekend if they weren’t.


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