ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
Everyone will be ringing in 2026 next week, and for those planning on attending special celebrations to mark the new year, the Liberal Police Department will be working to help everyone to remain safe.
“We'll be doing the usual DUI enforcement as always – hopefully, with New Year's Eve being on a Wednesday, we won't have too many of those this year, but we will definitely have a couple extra officers out concentrating on just traffic enforcement to keep anything bad from happening,” LPD Capt. Jeff Wade said. “And with it being New Year's Eve, we'll probably have the normal loud music calls and loud party calls and stuff like that, but hopefully no fights anything like that. But once you mix alcohol, and people usually have those, so we'll also be on the lookout and ready to respond to those situations. The most frequent calls we get on New Year’s Eve are for loud music, loud parties and fights. We also usually see some reckless driving, because people are partying, that often mixes with alcohol – we do see the accidents ranging from hit-and-runs, people hitting telephone poles or cars parked in the streets. Those are the things that we see quite a few of on those nights.”
For especially rowdy situations, Wade said it is best to contact law enforcement and let them handle things.
“I always recommend people use us instead of trying to deal with those situations themselves, because we're paid to do that,” Wade said.
For those planning to attend celebrations, Wade said to be sure and have a plan in place for getting home.
“If you're going out to a party and decide to imbibe in alcohol, have a designated driver plan. And as always, be careful, especially at night, because it's dark and you might not see certain things as well. Be ready to take things a little slower to get someplace because of traffic, because it's going to be busier,” Wade said. “Take that extra time if you need to, and watch the intersections – just because you have green light doesn't mean someone's going to respect their red, and that happens more than we care to see. There are multiple taxi services available in town, and they're all fantastic to use. Our officers have also occasionally gotten calls from people throughout the years asking for a ride home, and we are more than happy to help with that. The main thing is we want everyone to get home safe and sound.”
For those who do get caught for DUIs, Wade said there are serious consequences.
“We're going look out for DUIs everywhere, because some drunk drivers will take the back roads and avoid law enforcement trying to get home, and then others will just go down Main Street. So we'll be keeping an eye on both the residential areas and the main thoroughfares, and we'll be a little everywhere,” Wade said. “If a person gets caught for DUI and they have a bad license, they're automatically going to lose it for 30 days. If they refuse to give a breathalyzer sample, it's a year. If it's above a certain Blood Alcohol Content (BAC), it's a year or more, and then you have to go to court and special insurance, which is more expensive, and you'll have to get breathalyzer installed in the vehicle. Just don't do it – stay at a friend's house, or call a taxi or a friend to take you home.”
Like every other day, Wade said he and the LPD officers will be ready to respond to whatever comes up.
“I think we'll have about same this year as we did last year in terms of the number of parties, and we'll see the typical amount of people at the bars. I don't think it'd be any bigger than last year, especially since New Year's Eve is in the middle of the week,” Wade said. “In a couple years, I know everything will be on a Friday, and the next year on Saturday, and those years are usually busier because people don't work those weekends. But this year, there are a lot of places where people will still have to go back to work Jan. 1, so we're hoping things will be cooled down a little bit. What I'm hoping is people go out and have a good time celebrating with family and friends, but they're also responsible afterward by finding somewhere to stay or using a rideshare service to get home safely. If you get too stressed, try to find some easy ways to calm down but if you feel things are going to get out of hand, give us a call.”
Overall, Wade said, he hopes everyone rings in 2026 safely.
“We will have officers out on the streets and on patrol looking to keep everyone safe this holiday season, which is the main goal,” Wade said. “We as a department wish everyone a happy holiday season and hope all of our interactions are mostly pleasant.”
