Harrison police Chief Brian Turack is bringing back DUI checkpoints to target sections of the township that have become “concerning.”

“We want to show our community we are invested,” Turack said.

His department, along with the Allegheny Valley DUI Enforcement Task Force, conducted a checkpoint Sept. 20 along River Avenue in the township’s Natrona section that netted five arrests and 11 citations.

It is the first DUI checkpoint in the township since at least 2013.

“We focused on that area because of traffic volume and because of a number of recent DUI-related incidents there,” Turack said.

Charges are expected to be filed in those cases. Police are waiting on lab results.

The checkpoint was not far from where 11-year-old Roxanne Alexis Bonnoni died on North Canal Street when she was struck by a vehicle while playing outside her home Aug. 20.

Charges against the driver in that case are pending review by the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office.

Turack said his officers have participated in other jurisdictions throughout the years as members of the task force, run through the PA DUI Association.

Through that group, officers receive free training in Advanced Roadside Impaired Driving Enforcement, Basic Standardized Field Sobriety Testing and more.

At the recent Natrona checkpoint, 30 officers from multiple departments participated. They included Lower Burrell, New Kensington, Washington Township, Springdale, Frazer and Tarentum.

“We had 29 vehicles sent into the pit and, of those, three were DUIs,” Turack said. “One of those was a suspected DUI for a person driving with a DUI-suspended license.”

Police filed charges for two misdemeanors that included altered or forged plates or documents and 11 citations that included two drivers with suspended licenses.

Turack thanked the Trooper Kenton Iwaniec Memorial Foundation for recently providing the township with two preliminary breath test devices, which are portable screeners that were used during the checkpoint.

Iwaniec was a state trooper and Westmoreland County native who was killed in 2008 by an impaired driver, just 2 miles from his Avondale Barracks in Chester County. His parents formed the foundation to raise awareness, reduce impaired driving and distribute breath test devices to police throughout the state.

They cost about $650 each.

“It is a great tool for us to have,” Turack said.

He believes the checkpoints will serve as a strong deterrent that could stop an impaired driver from getting behind the wheel.

Turack said the events also can educate motorists and give officers a chance to interact with them.

“It’s also a good way to build relationships with other departments,” he said.

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