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The New “Highway Robbery”: Money-Making DUI Roadblocks Growing
Maricopa County Courts ^ | February 14, 2010 | Lawrence Taylor

Posted on 02/17/2010 8:16:37 AM PST by granite

I’ve commented repeatedly in the past about how DUI roadblocks (MADD prefers the less oppressive term "sobriety checkpoints") are inefficient at apprehending drunk drivers. See Do DUI Roadblocks Work?, Do DUI Roadblocks Work (Part II), As a means of apprehending drunk drivers, even law enforcement admits they are only effective as a deterrent — i.e., keeping people off the streets. See DUI Logic: Roadblocks Effective – Because They’re Inefective, Purpose of DUI Roadblocks: "Shock and Awe".

So why are cops using more and more DUI roadblocks? Simple: They are goldmines. See DUI: Government’s Cash Cow, What if the Cash Cow Goes Dry? and How to Make a Million in the DUI Business.

A quick refresher:

1. It is illegal to stop a citizen without probable cause to believe they have violated the law.

2. A roadblock constitutes a stop without probable cause.

3. The US. Supreme Court ruled in Michigan v. Sitz that although a DUI roadblock does constitute a violation of the Fourth Amendment, the governmentalal interest in reducing drunk driving fatalities outweighs the "minimal intrusion" into a citizen’s constitutional rights.

4. Under the decision, roadblocks can only be for the purpose of arresting drunk drivers. However, as with any investigative detention, if the officer finds other violations of law during the roadblock stop, he does not have to ignore them.

So…A cop can’t stop you to check for registration or license, possible equipment violations, open containers, seat belt checks, etc. But if they throw up a DUI roadblock, they can screen hundreds of drivers for anything they can find. Result: citations, arrests, impounded vehicles — and an invaluable source of revenue for local governments. See, for example, DUI Roadblock: 1131 Stops, 114 Tickets, 0 DUI Arrests, Another "Successful" DUI Roadblock: 3000 Drivers Stopped, 0 DUIs.
The following is a story from yesterday’s news by investigative reporter Ryan Gabrielson, winner of the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for local reporting:
 


California Cops Exploit DUI Checkpoints to
Bring in Money for Cities, Police


California police are turning DUI checkpoints into profitable operations that are far more likely to seize cars from unlicensed minority motorists than catch drunken drivers.

Berkeley, CA. Feb. 13 – An investigation by the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley with California Watch has found that impounds at checkpoints in 2009 generated an estimated $40 million in towing fees and police fines – revenue that cities divide with towing firms.

Additionally, police officers received about $30 million in overtime pay for the DUI crackdowns, funded by the California Office of Traffic Safety…
In the course of its examination, the Investigative Reporting Program reviewed hundreds of pages of city financial records and police reports, and analyzed data documenting the results from every checkpoint that received state funding during the past two years. Among the findings:

• Sobriety checkpoints frequently screen traffic within, or near, Hispanic neighborhoods. Cities where Hispanics represent a majority of the population are seizing cars at three times the rate of cities with small minority populations. In South Gate, a Los Angeles County city where Hispanics make up 92 percent of the population, police confiscated an average of 86 vehicles per operation last fiscal year.

• The seizures appear to defy a 2005 federal appellate court ruling that determined police cannot impound cars solely because the driver is unlicensed. In fact, police across the state have ratcheted up vehicle seizures. Last year, officers impounded more than 24,000 cars and trucks at checkpoints. That total is roughly seven times higher than the 3,200 drunken driving arrests at roadway operations. The percentage of vehicle seizures has increased 53 percent statewide compared to 2007.

• Departments frequently overstaff checkpoints with officers, all earning overtime. The Moreno Valley Police Department in Riverside County averaged 38 officers at each operation last year, six times more than federal guidelines say is required. Nearly 50 other local police and sheriff’s departments averaged 20 or more officers per checkpoint – operations that averaged three DUI arrests a night…
With support from groups such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving, California more than doubled its use of sobriety checkpoints the past three years.

State officials have declared that 2010 will be the “year of the checkpoint.” Police are scheduling 2,500 of the operations in every region of California. Some departments have begun to broaden the definition of sobriety checkpoints to include checking for unlicensed drivers…

It’s probably just a coincidence that California, on the verge of bankruptcy, has decided to make this the "year of the checkpoint".

(Thanks to David Baker.)


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: donutwatch; dui; lping; papersplease; policestate; revenuetickets; shakedownracket; thebiggestgangintown; trapster
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To: granite

I wonder whether one could raise the argument that if a checkpoint nets dozens of violations, but almost none are for DUI, the claim that it’s a “DUI” checkpoint is a transparent ruse.


81 posted on 02/17/2010 3:20:45 PM PST by supercat (Barry Soetoro == Bravo Sierra)
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To: DariusBane

>I think BAC dui should be at .10 not .8.<

I agree whole heartedly. As a matter of fact, IMO, it is just a number for an average person to begin with. I have seen people at .12 that could drive better than many people on the road. Then again, a younger person who hasn’t had much experience behind the wheel or with alcohol may be lower.

I never relied on an alcosensor much. I wanted to see if people should be behind the wheel. If they were so irresponsible that they fell out of the car, then they put themselves there and risked others for no reason but their own stubbornness or lack of self respect and disregard for everyone else.

If they were boarder line, hell get them a ride. I get no pleasure out of spending my nite with a guy who may have had one too many and made a mistake of being “over the limit”

If they were just legally drunk, but safe to drive. I would ask them to get a cup of coffee somewhere and wait an hour to get back in the car when their bac would be low enough that they could not be charged.

>I reject your model sir. I despise the simpletons who demand safety at any cost. SHAME ON YOU for forgetting what it is like to be free and unfettered.<

This was not MY model. This was my job, to uphold the law that “the people” wanted. Safety on the road in this instance. I didn’t make the rules, I only enforced them.
I did my job.

I won’t apologize for it either. I wish I could have grabbed some people before they ended the lives of others being as independent and thinking that the laws should not apply to them.
It is no fun going to homes in the middle of the night to tell a parent that a drunk driver killed their child and then sit there with them trying to make sense out of it.

It is my belief that a persons right to do as they please ends when it infringes on the rights of others to do as they please or be safe.


82 posted on 02/17/2010 3:39:18 PM PST by Munz (All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.)
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To: Munz

My point is that police powers given to LE today are used to amend or attenuate behavior that seems right. Nobody wants drunks driving around killing people. Tomorrow those same police powers will be used to take away guns or some other nonsense. The LEO can always fall back on “I don’t make the laws I just enforce them”. Great, but a contravening example is Federal Dollars in the form of seat belt enforcement programs putting Washington into my neighborhood. How did that work. First federal highway dollars get linked to seat belt usage rates. Secondarily laws are passed making seat belt use a secondary stop violation. Finally, over time seat belt laws become primary stop. Then federal grant money has cops sitting in neighborhood staring into my car like they need a new girl friend. So I say apologize for being a party to federalism run amok. If you are part of a saturation patrol as I drive to wal-mart to pick up fish sticks for dinner apologize for shining your flashlight into my car as i drive past 15 parked police cars with lights flashing. Apologize for being willing to do the job I would NEVER do which is bring the long arm of federal dollars into my world. Shame on you for being willing to do the job. Police exists to protect the institutions that hire them. They forget they need the support and compliance and good will of the citizenry to make the world safe. So I reject LE as a legitimate profession. Two kinds of people in this world producers and consumers. Police are just another consuming agency that lives off the hard work of tax payers. You spent a career consuming tax dollars and leeching off the productivity of others. You Sir got to comfortable with the trappings of courts and power. Your ability to detain and require people to go to court is far to casual. My neighbors undoubtedly require many stupid laws constraining the behavior of their neighbors. But if they couldn’t find people willing to do the job of LE, then no tickets would ever be issued for all the stupid tax collecting laws that most LE devotes itself to. Registration, tags, stickers paperwork all to show that proper Proskynesis to the states coffers have been properly submitted.


83 posted on 02/17/2010 3:57:23 PM PST by DariusBane (Even the Rocks shall cry out "Hobamma to the Highest")
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To: DariusBane

How many gun fights have you been in protecting the public?


84 posted on 02/17/2010 4:15:48 PM PST by balticseaviking (been there done that , Talked the talk and sure as hell walked the walk)
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To: balticseaviking

I did my duty as 11B. Nuff said.


85 posted on 02/17/2010 4:25:18 PM PST by DariusBane (Even the Rocks shall cry out "Hobamma to the Highest")
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To: balticseaviking

Further more a whole bunch of these LEO of ex military and took the oath to protect and defend the constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic. In spite of this oath they are engaging in the extra constitutional search, seizure and probable cause that the institutions they work for endorse. Shame on you if you took that oath and you work in a police department.


86 posted on 02/17/2010 4:42:22 PM PST by DariusBane (Even the Rocks shall cry out "Hobamma to the Highest")
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To: granite

re: “inefficient at apprehending drunk drivers”

If a cop sits outside a bar and watches customers come out of the bar, stumble to their car, have a hard time getting the door open, getting the car started, getting out of the parking lot then that cop has REASONABLE cause to stop that driver, IMO. Such as stop has a high batting average.

But courts have held that the cop cannot discriminate and must apply the law equally to all ... thus the movement to low batting average road blocks.

Of course, for such a road block to payoff, they need to enfoce ALL possible technicaliities, DUI, seatbelts, tailights, fuzzy-dice obstructing the windshield, etc.


87 posted on 02/17/2010 5:23:01 PM PST by spintreebob
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To: spintreebob
If a cop sits outside a bar and watches customers come out of the bar, stumble to their car, have a hard time getting the door open, getting the car started, getting out of the parking lot then that cop has REASONABLE cause to stop that driver, IMO. Such as stop has a high batting average.

That is the designated decoy. The real drunks beat it out the back door and are long gone by the time the decoy makes out of the parking lot.

88 posted on 02/17/2010 5:27:02 PM PST by going hot (Happiness is a Momma Deuce)
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To: CSM
Thanks for the ping.

More to come.

89 posted on 02/17/2010 7:13:51 PM PST by elkfersupper (Member of the Original Defiant Class)
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To: bamahead

Thank you for posting this.


90 posted on 02/17/2010 7:15:01 PM PST by elkfersupper (Member of the Original Defiant Class)
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To: wendy1946
Are there any instances of innocent and totally sober people failing these tests and having property taken? Not playing devil's advocate here, just curious.

DUI is now a fungible term of art.

If the Revenue Enhancement Officer you attract is convinced you are "impaired to the slightest degree", that is a DUI. Even if you have no alcohol or other drugs in your system, you still get to go through the drill.

The only message is DO NOT ATTRACT THE ATTENTION OF LAW ENFORCEMENT.

91 posted on 02/17/2010 7:20:08 PM PST by elkfersupper (Member of the Original Defiant Class)
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To: wendy1946
We clearly need a few new items in the bill of rights

The Bill of Rights is just fine, except that it created in the minds of certain people the notion that the U.S. Constitution grants rights to individuals, rather than limits the rights of government.

Regardless of what the "Law" says, we all have a right to peaceably travel from point A to point B without being harassed by armed government revenue enhancement agents.

92 posted on 02/17/2010 7:25:27 PM PST by elkfersupper (Member of the Original Defiant Class)
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To: screaminsunshine
Cabs are cheaper than DUI.

My F-150 SVT Raptor is carrying an extra 500 lbs. of mud as a result of getting me back and forth to work right now.

Find me a cab that will do that (Ibuprofen will get you a DUI if you admit taking it).

93 posted on 02/17/2010 7:29:58 PM PST by elkfersupper (Member of the Original Defiant Class)
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To: goseminoles

You forgot the MADD Mothers’ mandatory live theatre attendance (Victim Impact Panel) and the ignition interlock.


94 posted on 02/17/2010 7:33:45 PM PST by elkfersupper (Member of the Original Defiant Class)
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To: DariusBane

>Shame on you for being willing to do the job. <

are you out of your mind?

>They forget they need the support and compliance and good will of the citizenry to make the world safe. So I reject LE as a legitimate profession.<

I really don’t give a damn what you think. I know what I did and I take this as a personal attack. As i said this is complete BS. You people have no idea what kind of a cop I was and I will be damned if some rummy who knows NOTHING about me can tell me to apologize over and over.

No sir, it is YOU who owes me an apology.

making asinine statements like

>You spent a career consuming tax dollars and leeching off the productivity of others. <

doesn’t even deserve a reply.

Instead of taking a person who may shed actual insight to the growing problems of law enforcement, how the profession works and what can be done about it, all you backward thinking, the sky is falling tin foiled hat people can do is criticize.

YES tin foil.

>Tomorrow those same police powers will be used to take away guns or some other nonsense. <

you said

>Nobody wants drunks driving around killing people. <

so just how the hell is it going to be stopped if the police don’t try to stop it?

I tried to offer insight and was attacked.

Unfortunately you can attack me day and night, but this is still a country of laws. Where we all have to respect the rights of others and give them the proper safety from society as a whole. Your all really good at attacking the people who do the job to the best of their abilities, but you offer no real solutions. Just attack attack attack.

Now you want me to apologize?

You better check the temperature in hell first.


95 posted on 02/17/2010 7:33:56 PM PST by Munz (All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.)
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To: Grunthor
has anybody ever tried....oh, I dunno, NOT drinking and driving?

"Impaired to the slightest degree" means being too fat to operate the controls to some cops, or distracted by electronic devices or roadside spectacles to others.

It's all "DUI".

96 posted on 02/17/2010 7:38:03 PM PST by elkfersupper (Member of the Original Defiant Class)
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To: dalereed
I hope they set them up every day and night. I don’t personally give a damn about drunks but they catch the illegals and those without licenses and insurance!!!

Until you get jacked up.......

97 posted on 02/17/2010 7:39:18 PM PST by elkfersupper (Member of the Original Defiant Class)
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To: spintreebob

>If a cop sits outside a bar and watches customers come out of the bar,<

That is illegal to do in NYS. I am sure it is done, but I don’t personally know anyone who does it.

If I did, I would blow them in for it.


98 posted on 02/17/2010 7:40:38 PM PST by Munz (All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.)
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To: RobRoy
Passive resistance.

Followed by handcuffs, attorney fees and a lifetime of hell.

99 posted on 02/17/2010 7:41:04 PM PST by elkfersupper (Member of the Original Defiant Class)
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To: RebelTXRose
You mean that Mr. X did NOTHING to arouse your suspicion and you STOPPED him anyway?

Officer: The motorist had a dim license plate light.

Judge: Guilty.

100 posted on 02/17/2010 7:43:07 PM PST by elkfersupper (Member of the Original Defiant Class)
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