DUI Checkpoint Stops Zero DUIs...but finds others things to arrest you for.

[rcrush]

http://scienceblogs.com/dispatches/2009/07/dui_checkpoint_stops_zero_duis.php#more

DUI Checkpoint Stops Zero DUIs

Posted on: July 11, 2009 9:02 AM, by Ed Brayton

Another good catch by Balko, who links to this article about a DUI checkpoint in Florida that found lots of other things to arrest people for and give them tickets for - but no DUIs.
A DUI checkpoint over the holiday weekend resulted in 10 people being arrested and more than 100 drivers being issued traffic citations.

The Florida Highway Patrol arranged for the checkpoint to be set up in the 2500 block of Southwest 13th Street in Gainesville between 10 p. m. Friday until 2 a.m. Saturday. FHP Lt. Pat Riordan said that during that time, 1,131 vehicles were checked.


Here's what they did find:
Although no one was arrested for DUI, FHP said the following actions were taken during the checkpoint:

--Two arrested on outstanding warrants.

-- Seven arrested on felony charges, including six on drug-related charges.

-- One arrested for misdemeanor drugs.

-- 104 traffic citations issued.

-- 10 faulty equipment warnings were issued.

-- 10 warnings were issued.


But if that justifies having a checkpoint to check every single vehicle and driver, ostensibly for DUIs, doesn't it also justify just having random checks for no reason at all? Why not just go door to door and ask everyone for their license to see if they have any outstanding warrants? Or set up a checkpoint outside every mall, or on every major street, and run a police scan on every single person? After all, that would lead to the same results. And those results seem to be the only thing that matters.

[Liberal In Texas]

1. "Your papers, please...."

[Auggie]

2. 104 traffic citations - that's lot of local revenue (and a "tax" no one mentions)

In our burg getting caught by a red light camera will set you back $500.00.

[hootinholler]

14. What sort of traffic citations can you issue at a checkpoint?

Speeding? Failure to signal? The original doesn't say.

:shrug:

-Hoot

[Hassin Bin Sober]

18. Seatbelt? No insurance card handy?

Everybody is guilty of something.

[onethatcares]

22. that's the amazing thing about the entire scam

the police can pull you up on the puter, they'll get a read out of your insurance company, your registration and driver licence, any outstanding warrants and they still want you to have all the paper on you. Oh, and I believe they get a generated pic of your smiling face too.

the latest scam is the seatbelt law. Once they pull you over for that, your entire vehicle gets searched. :wtf:

[ManiacJoe]

23. Does it really work that way in Florida?

[onethatcares]

41. yes it does.

n/t

[dmr]

42. Very much so

I left Florida in 2001, and the Florida Highway Patrol and the local cops love their checkpoints.

They hit a spot, beginning with two cops, one for each direction that wave cars over to a waiting group of other cops to be 'processed'.

They also have patrol cars strategically placed to chase after vehicles who see what's up ahead as they turn to a side street or make a U-turn to leave.

The several times I came across these checkpoints, the cop would usually wave me through. Me, being an older, white woman, isn't much of a bargain for them, I suppose. The times I have been flagged over, they go over everything with a fine tooth comb in a very intimidating manner.

A co-worker confided in me (I was her supervisor) that she had spent the week-end in jail because of a Broward County Sheriff's checkpoint found she had an unpaid ticket in Miami-Dade County.

(I'm going to preface this that she is black, because I don't think what happened to her would happen to me.)

It was a Friday night, and she and her daughter were on their way to Disney World. In front of her four-year old, they cuffed her, put her in a paddy wagon and called DHS for her daughter; and impounded her car. She spent 4 nights in jail until her mother could come up with money to get her out and pay to get her car out of impound. This was a huge trauma to her and her daughter. She was embarrassed, shamed and frightened to drive for fear it could happen again. Her little girl spent one night with DHS, then released to her grandmother the next day.

I've no use for checkpoints. I see them for what they are, and has little to do with DUIs.

[Name removed]

34. Deleted message

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[Occulus]

35. And then we have this

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=6058697&mesg_id=6059528

[Posteritatis]

20. Seatbelt, signalling, missing chunks of car, slid in to the checkpoint sideways.. (nt)

[Auggie]

21. My friend was cited for having a PLASTIC baseball bat in the passenger seat

He was coming home from coaching little league. He had on a uniform and other equipment in the car -- there was no doubt what he had been doing. But this Nazi gave him a citation for driving with a weapon in front seat. A fucking plastic baseball bat.

[lib2DaBone]

25. IF they want to ticket you.. they will find a way....

It is possible to issue a ticket to almost any car on the road, at any time... if the police officer really wants to. (And most officers today are being pushed by their supervisors for "Increased Activity") meaning: Write more tickets we need cash.

As the State sinks deeper into disrepair thanks to political greed and mismanagement SOMEONE has to pay the bill (first 2 guesses don't count) L:aw Enforcement will be harassing and ticketing as many cars as they can.

Failure to wear seatbelt, not wearing Rx lenses, Driving with no shoes, Listening to a walkman while driving, license plate light out, crack in windshield, Failure to update current address on License, registration or insurance (even if your insurance is current.. don't forget to up-date your address and phone numbers), Failure to update DL within 30 days of moving, no child seat, improper child seat by age, improper adjustment of straps on child seat, cracked tail light lens, wrong license for vehicle type, the list is endless.

In this day of total government control of every facet of our lives.. it is easy to forget to dot an I or to cross a T, one small mistake and they have $300 of your hard-earned money in their pocket.

Oh yes, almost forgot.. this is all done for YOUR safety. Whereas burned out traffic signals, missing road signs, deep pot holes, bad pavement, rickety bridges... all these factors are OK and do not effect your safety.

[Occulus]

36. !

I wish we could rec individual posts.

[sofa king]

46. Inspection violations, among other things.

Florida has a draconian registration law which requires drivers to license themselves, register, inform their insurance company, and have the vehicle emissions inspected within ten days of arrival in Florida. I'm sure most new Floridians don't know that.

Similarly, once a vehicle is stopped at a checkpoint, officers can check at a glance whether any lights are out, and so on. The stopping is simply an opportunity to generate revenue by getting a closer look at stopped vehicles, profiling people, and intimidating people into allowing their cars to be searched.

They'll confiscate any large sum of cash and keep it, too, because all money has traces of drugs on it.

[TexasObserver]

3. Led by the fascist GOP judges on the Supreme Court, they've gutted civil liberties.

[taterguy]

4. Don't leave weed in plain sight

Don't give an officer permission to search your car. Even if there's nothing illegal in the car just say no as a matter of principle.

Let someone else drive if you're a fugitive.

As for the practical reason that checkpoints exist: The state owns the roads and can do almost anything it wants to to ensure safety of the roads.

Lastly, I hate to keep harping on this but this is yet another reason that a bicycle is a great mode of transportation.

[hobbit709]

6. Let me tell you about the cop with the X-Ray eyes.

There was nothing in plain sight but that didn't stop this bastard in my case. He just lied about it afterwards.

[Lars39]

9. They don't have to have permission if they have a drug dog.

The dog can do a walk around the car and they can get probable cause to search your car.

[mitchum]

15. Fresh cayenne pepper sprinkled in the car will neutralize the dog's ability to smell

[jmowreader]

30. I gotta tell my favorite Mike Wimer story

Mike was one of my instructors in MI school, and he was stationed in Panama where he was considered the bad boy of the installation, apparently. This happened in the 1970s.

The Military Police unit on Fort Sherman just got a drug dog and ran it through every barracks on post every week. Mike finally got tired of this fucking dog, so he went downtown, bought an ounce of opium oil, and mixed it into a can of liquid floor polish. After the dog passed out the first time, they never brought it back again.

[PA Democrat]

13. Believe it or not, but you can get a DUI in many states while riding a bike.

[Mopar151]

43. Ya well, ya know..

I met the NH poster dude for this - the locals did'nt just pop him for being a little tipsy :toast::toast: - he was on the bycicle, in the middle of the main street:wow: -:wow: lying on his side, and still pedaling:wtf:...:wtf::wtf:...:toast:

[michreject]

17. The Police can ask passengers for ID

Non compliance ='s off to jail.

[kcass1954]

26. My brother got a ticket on his bike years ago.

Early 70s, he headed to the beach a few blocks away to check the surf. Didn't stop at a red light. Got a ticket from a state trooper.

[Occulus]

37. Bicycles are subject to all road rules

What a cop can ticket you for while driving a car, he can also ticket you for driving a bike.

I do not mean "motorcycle". You are still required to obey all traffic laws when biking, including signaling and obeying signage, even when biking on a country road. I have yet to see any biker in my town do that, after fifteen years of living here. I do, and I feel foolish doing it, and get weird looks from other drivers (AND BIKERS!), because nobody else- nobody else in this town- does.

Even right downtown.

Oh, bikes can be searched, too, so if that's a concern for you, you'll want to bike carrying the tools you need to put it all back together, because a cop will tear it to pieces looking for that hidden roach or dimebag, and won't care that you're twenty miles from home without tools.

There are lots of good reasons to bike, even considering all that. I don't like bike lanes, though- they're too narrow, and sometimes the design of the intersection you're approaching requires you to have cars all around you, the bike lane being between car lanes at that intersection. We have a couple of those in my town, and I just shake my head whenever I see them. How is that a good idea?

If you (any DUer, not you personally) do choose to bike in the future, please, please be hyperaware of your surroundings. Many auto drivers are dangerously rude to bike drivers.

[AllieB]

5. "Papieren Bitte"

Indeed. Welcome to the police state-no surprise that this is in Florida.

[Robb]

7. 1 in 10 cars were, at minimum, cited for traffic violations.

Must've been one heck of a corner.

[csziggy]

8. Last Thanksgiving weekend we passed a checkpoint in Taylor County Florida

Well before the cop vehicles were visible was a road sign with the message, "Checkpoint ahead, drug detection in use" or something like that. What is funny is that we had passed several vehicles that had been pulled over going away from that point. I suspect that they had spotters watching for cars that did a U-turn and sent out officers to pull them over and check them. It was a perfect place to do this since there were miles before there was anywhere to pull off except for hunting and logging roads that led into the swamps.

There was not actually a checkpoint, either - just a big group of highway patrol and sheriff's cars gathered and ready to take off. Cars that did not try to evade the "checkpoint" just drove on by, though we all slowed down.

[Obamanaut]

28. I was checked at one of these in north FLorida

and the officer checking my license and registration seemed surprised that I have a motorcycle endorsement, and even pointed out to me that I have one.

I was riding a motorcycle. With a helmet. And insurance.

[csziggy]

29. The one we passed was not even really a checkpoint - they weren't stopping anybody

Just pulling the people who turned around to not go through the "checkpoint."

But I am not sure if Florida has a special license for motorcyclists. OOO - that reminds me, I have to renew my license this week. Ick.

[alstephenson]

10. Ha! Here in Arizona Sheriff Joe has his own DWH checkpoints.

"Driving While Hispanic".

[ixion]

11. that is a whopping load of unconstitutional BS

and it really shouldn't be tolerated in an allegedly free society. :grr:

[KT2000]

12. Terrorist checkpoints

were operating on the Olympic Peninsula in WA state.
Don't have the statistics but they did not catch any terrorists, just "illegals," some who were actually American citizens. They were eventually released from jail in Seattle - 60 miles and a ferry ride away.
Homeland Security/Border Patrol around here has too much money and not enough to do. They sit in their vehicles and stare at the workers in the fields. Would love to know the hourly rate for that job.

[michreject]

16. How about the 4th Amendment

Why not just go door to door and ask everyone for their license to see if they have any outstanding warrants?

Your vehicle doesn't count. They give the permission and license. You play by their rules. Implied consent and all that.

[Vidar]

19. More police state bullshit.

[Baclava]

24. More money for the city coffers

You think this is new?

[Flaneur]

27. The Supreme Court allowed DWI checkpoints for public safety purposes.

Not for law enforcement purposes. It struck down an Indianapolis checkpoint that was expressly to look for drugs. So now the cops use the pretext of public safety to do their fishing expeditions.

The presence of drug dogs kind of gives it all away. What are they using the dogs for at these "public safety" checkpoints, reading drivers' licenses?

And anytime you see a warning sign about a "drug checkpoint" ahead, there won't be one. Just as a poster above described, cops put up those signs, then wait to see who reacts, then think up a pretext to pull them over.

Even at checkpoints, cops cannot search your vehicle unless you consent--unless you provide them probable cause, like, say, leaving a roach in the ashtray or having a cloud of pot smoke emanating from your window. Just say no to all search requests.

In a bit of bizarro world logic, the Supreme Court has ruled that having a drug dog sniff your vehicle is not a search. That means they can run a drug dog around your car whenever they feel like it, without your consent.

Drug dogs sniff cars, not people. Just something to think about as you place that stash.

[cboy4]

31. How these checkpoints are not illegal searches and seizures I will never

understand.

Yea, yea I know the courts say they're not illegal as long as the cops give people a place to turn around as they approach a checkpoint.

Mmmmm hmmmm, like there aren't a couple of motorcycle cops waiting to speed after the people they see turn around and stopping them for any bullshit violation. :eyes:

DUI checkpoints :thumbsdown:

[Name removed]

32. Deleted sub-thread

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[DemoTex]

33. I favor the Reno-911 style DUI checkpoints

Know what I mean, Vern?

[DainBramaged]

38. I wonder what color that neighborhood is????

:grr:


"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."

http://www.gainesville.com/article/20090706/ARTICLES/907069925/1003/NEWS04?Title=DUI-checkpoint-stops-1-131-vehicles

And why were 104 traffic citations given out if the car wasn't moving during the check? Is this just the cops way of sying have a nice day?

[Cali_Democrat]

39. What a bunch of bullshit

Fucking pigs.

[pinniped]

40. So, when is the US Supreme Court going to reverse their previous ruling?

?

[patriotvoice]

44. Public roads may have checkpoints drawn at any time, and any violation may be handled.

Police don't go door to door because that is private property. Same as with malls. They don't run scans on every single person because they don't have the man-power to do so. They are fully authorized, however, to monitor public roadways at any time of day or night. They usually do so at night because that nets more violations: from busted tail lights, to broken turning signals, to drunk drivers, to smugglers.

I suspect this street was chosen because it already has a high frequency of violations.

And I will add that the police have legal authority to ask to see your identification at any time for any reason (Hibel v. 6th DC Nevada). They also have legal authority to search automobiles without your permission, provided you have been arrested ("placed into custody") and there is "reasonable belief" that searching the vehicle will yield evidence incident to the arrest (Arizona v. Gant).

[ieoeja]

45. Were they writing the Bill of Rights today ...

"The right of the people to travel public roads, blah-blah-blah, will not be infringed upon."


The above assumes we would have the same sort of people writing the Bill of Rights today. We'd be more likely to insert the Bill of Un-rights for which Republics took so much pleasure in claiming authorship a decade or so ago.