The motors may have been roaring during the King of the Hammers week-long off-road race, but it was a relatively quiet week as far as law enforcement was concerned. The off-road race brought more than 50,000 visitors to the area between February 3 and February 10. Sheriff’s deputies, and officers from the Bureau of Land Management, California Highway Patrol, and crews from the county fire department and the Marine Corps Air-Ground Combat Center, responded to 250 public assistance calls, with a total of 1,355 contacts with the public. Of those calls, only five people were arrested; four for driving under the influence and one for narcotics. There were 182 citations issued, ranging from drugs and alcohol to battery to fireworks to vehicle safety violations, and 527 warnings were given out, and nine missing persons reports. In addition, the Sheriff’s Department said that all the agencies were using the same digital radio frequency, which made communicating among the different agencies much smoother.
