14 July 2009

Pondering the purpose of "DUI checkpoints"

The Gainesville (Florida) police set up a DUI checkpoint on a Friday night and stopped over 1,000 vehicles. They arrested two people on outstanding warrants, seven others on felony charges (six drug-related) and one for misdemeanor drugs. They issued over 100 traffic citations and equipment warnings.

They didn't arrest anyone for DUI.
"We conduct these checkpoints to enforce and to educate," Riordan said. "It's a way for us to bring the public's attention to things like faulty equipment they need to fix as well as being a way for us to get people out from behind the wheel who do not belong there."
Why not just say up front that the checkpoint is for random checking of everyone driving a car? I don't know whether I feel offended by this procedure or not; it gives me a vaguely uncomfortable feeling. I feel drunk and texting drivers should be fed to crocodiles, but wonder if this is the appropriate method to approach the problem.

Via Scienceblogs, where there are about a hundred comments that will probably echo anything anyone might want to say here...

4 comments:

  1. AnonymousJuly 14, 2009 at 7:33 PM

    The check points in our area are only in and out of the poorest sections of town. With out a doubt they are aimed at poor and minority.

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  2. AnonymousJuly 14, 2009 at 8:47 PM

    Random checks of anyone in or out of a vehicle without probable cause of a crime having been committed is a violation of our most basic civil rights and should be opposed vigorously by everyone. Our federal and local governments are getting waaay out of control and must be slapped down a notch or two. We gotta get our country back folks!

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  3. Brian KernJuly 15, 2009 at 9:33 AM

    The US Supreme Court has ruled that "checkpoints" are legal provided that there is no racial or economic profiling.

    Occasionally I encounter one here in Texas, always on the freeway, and usually on a weekend and at night. Ostensibly it is to counter drunk driving, but it nets law enforcement a plethora of additional charges and warrants.

    If your state currently allows such "checkpoints" then it is up to you to start a petition to make them illegal in your state.

    On a side note, I was once told in police academy (jokingly of course) that probable cause for DWI in Texas was a combination of 1. Pickup Truck 2. Cowboy Hat 3. White male 4. Nighttime.

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  4. AsraiAugust 13, 2009 at 12:20 PM

    We get stopped infrequently and it amuses me that they ask "did you have anything to drink tonight?" like we're going to say YES?

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