Cops on lookout for DWIs during Super Bowl

To all football fans who plan to drink on Super Bowl Sunday: Don't get behind the wheel.

Police in Nassau and Suffolk counties as well as state troopers say they plan to crack down on drunken driving Sunday when the Giants face the Patriots.

"There is much more partying when it's the hometown team," said Lt. Daniel Meyer of the Suffolk Highway Patrol Bureau.

Nearly half of all fatal crashes nationwide from 2007 to 2009, the latest years statistics are available, involved drunken drivers, according to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration.

Meyer said his team of 14 police officers and a sergeant will work Sunday, usually their day off, to boost DWI enforcement.

"We're bringing them in for the Super Bowl," Meyer said.

The team, known as Select Alcohol Fatality Enforcement Team, made eight DWI arrests on Super Bowl Sunday last year compared with 14 DWI arrests on the day of the 2008 Super Bowl when the Giants beat the Patriots.

A Nassau police spokesman said the department plans stepped-up DWI enforcement but did not elaborate. In 2011, Nassau made 13 DWI arrests on Super Bowl Sunday, compared with 11 in 2008.

New York State troopers will also be setting up checkpoints looking for drunken drivers and pulling them off the roads, said Frank Bandiero, an agency spokesman. The statewide crackdown began Friday and continues through Sunday.

"Typically, with more traveling and drinking and celebrating, there'll be more accidents," Bandiero said.

NHTSA and groups such as Mothers Against Drunk Drivers have also launched "Fans Don't Let Fans Drive Drunk" campaigns urging those who plan to drink to designate a sober driver to bring them home safely after the game.