Posted on 02/22/2006 8:00:10 PM PST by elkfersupper
Sobriety checkpoint comes up dry on Rt. 1
After a few cars were pulled aside for license infractions at the Fairfax County Police Department’s sobriety checkpoint last weekend, a pickup truck nearly rolled past the officer’s outstretched arm, so the driver was motioned over for a field sobriety test.
"It’s not unusual that we don’t have any DWI arrests." - Rich Perez, public information officer
The officer smelled something, possibly alcohol, and made the driver walk a line, stand on one foot, and then a counting drill before administering the breath-o-lyzer – a hand held computer device that reads the alcohol content after breathing through a tube.
“He was zero,” the officer said, and let the driver go on his way. It was nearly 12:30 a.m. and the unending line of cars continued through the cones as the night wore on.
When alcohol was suspected, the officers made drivers go through a routine test, which this person passed.
“Sometimes they’re drunk and sometimes they’re not. That’s why we’re out here,” said Sgt. Ryan Morgan from the Mount Vernon station. “We’re doing this for their safety,” he added.
The word is out about the checkpoints though, and after several hours, and 888 cars, there wasn’t one drunk driver arrested.
“It’s not unusual that we don’t have any DWI arrests,” said public information officer Rich Perez. “Word of mouth about the checkpoints helps.”
Police did catch one driver with a fake ID, one with a suspended license, and six drivers with no driver’s licenses at all.
This sobriety checkpoint was conducted Friday night, Feb. 10, by several officers from the Mount Vernon District Station, backed up by a few auxiliary police officers. The officers channeled all the cars traveling southbound on Richmond Highway through a series of cones, stopping five cars at a time and visually checking each one. The first officer stops every car and directed them down the line after handing out a flyer. “We’re doing a DWI checkpoint tonight,” he said to each driver.
Morgan walked up and down the line with a clipboard, keeping track of all the cars. “To follow with the checkpoint, we must stop every car. We basically follow the law procedure-wise,” Morgan said. According to Morgan, there is a Fairfax County checkpoint every weekend somewhere in the county.
APO Toskin, an auxiliary police officer, has been manning the DWI checkpoints for 10 years. Through checkpoints like these and other drinking and driving deterrents, he has seen the number of drivers arrested for DWI go down. On a typical night, he said, “We used to get 10-12 DWI’s a night. Now we get two or three. The message is getting out.”
Cars in all the lanes on Route 1 were checked by Fairfax County police.
Captain Steve Wylie was the duty officer that night, and he traveled around the county, stopping in on things like this just “to see how things are going,” he said. “The purpose isn’t to catch them, it’s to discourage them,” Wylie said. He’s also seen the number of drunk drivers go down through the years. “Everything we’ve been doing over the last 15 years has been doing some good.”
At 12:10 a.m., Wylie expected things to pick up, especially after “last call,” at many of the local restaurants and bars. “It’s kind of early,” he said.
No one at this checkpoint, just outside the Days Inn in the Huntington area, was armed with the latest weapon in the Fairfax County Police Department’s arsenal, the Passive Alcohol Sensor, or “sniffer flashlight,” that detects alcohol in the air. Officers using the device have to be specially trained, and not all are according to Morgan, so the officers have to be observant. When looking in a car “you can usually get a sense, people that are drunk usually have outward signs,” Morgan said.
One of the pickup trucks was waved over because the driver didn’t have a license, and then it was discovered that the license was revoked after a previous DWI. The driver got out and the officers called a tow truck. “This one is a little bit more serious,” Morgan said, “he can’t be driving.” A tow truck came for the vehicle.
Cars traveling south on Richmond Highway in Mount Vernon were funneled into two lanes at the sobriety checkpoint.
The police department’s Mobil Command Unit was parked nearby, “basically as a warming place,” Morgan added. “Every 15 minutes or so, we give them a break.”
When the stopped cars got backed up too much along the highway, the officers step aside, clearing the lanes. “Opening it up, coming through,” one yelled, and they waved the cars through.
It was live when posted and nearly all day today.
We must have crashed their server or used up their bandwidth allowance.
Sorry, but good that several people apparently got to see it before it died.
Nominated for post of the day.
You are saying that once convicted this person has to go to jail for driving without a license and is forever impaired?
The specific incident above was a case of his being sober but disqualified by loss, suspension, of his license -- not by permanent revocation.
Obviously, this checkpoint was not in front of Ted Kennedy's condo.
No, the vague concept of government run amok simply doesn't compare to the incompetance of an idiot in the moment. And, since people cannot seem to exercise any personal sense of responsibility then what they get is "government" making sure that they do.
Here's a simple idea; keep your eyes on the road, a good hand on the wheel, watch where you are going and pay attention to the rules of the road. If we all did that then there would be no problem.
Except for that crooked license plate bracket or cracked windshield which opens the door to armed government agents imprisoning you and confiscating your net worth.
Other than that, everything would be okay.
Who's demanding anything?
Yeah. Bring that up at the next militia meeting and I am sure that you will get a while lotta "Attaboy Verne"s.
You and your government enabling comrades of the statist safety brigade. I believe it was a request for a ban on driving while talking on a cell phone.
Facts are facts. Your chances or having an accident increase by talking on a cell phone that lack a hands free device. I see it all over my neighborhood. Minivan crossing the lane lines, taking slow and wide assed turns and when you get beside her, it's soccer Mom yapping on the phone and doing whatever else while driving. And that's just one example.
You want to smash up your own vehicle that's between you and your insurance company.
"...Incidentally, if you find yourself in line for one of these, stay there. Evading or avoiding the checkpoint is in itself an arrestable offense, and there are LEO stationed to watch..."
I was stopped two times for so-called "License/Registration/Insurance Checkpoints" in adjoining counties, in the middle of the day, all within the span of one hour a few months ago. Can you imagine the breathless, high-speed excitement I could have caused if I simply opted to make a legal U-turn and continue on my way to my clients' businesses for scheduled appointments?
I am always curious if this is a study of "frogs being slowly boiled in water" just to see how much abuse we'll tolerate as a society. My own personal line-in-the-sand is when I'll eventually be asked to open my trunk. They'll have to obtain a warrant to see my jumper cables and antifreeze. They'll be needlessly wasting my time, so I might as well peacefully lodge my disapproval when that day arrives.
~ Blue Jays ~
Some really do hate it – he was one of them.
raising money
And the stomach would be much better protected if the skeleton grew over it. But then we wouldn't be able to bend over. You and your statist comrades have crippled this country with legislation. You have demanded a cancerous government to create a policy for whatever problem dateline covered this week. People willing to empower government to solve every problem are the biggest threat this country faces, because you devalue personal responsibility and create a nation of larvae unable to do anything but suck the rotted flesh off of the corpse of freedom.
Life.
Do you often make things up and attribute them to others?
Nice rhetoric....does it get you the attention you seek on Saturday nights?
I guess if there's ever a joint meeting of the militia and the Committee to Criminalize Everything That We Find Dangerous or Offensive, I'll see you there.
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