Our Orange County DUI Lawyers have obtained Orange County DUI Checkpoint Information for June 19-21, 2015, and learned that law enforcement have been announcing DUI checkpoints and Saturation Patrols for this upcoming weekend here in the OC. Checkpoints in Santa Ana, Placentia, and roving DUI saturation patrols in Villa Park, Stanton, and Yorba Linda are happening this weekend in those respective cities.

The Santa Ana Police Department is having a DUI checkpoint tonight, Friday, June 19, 2015. It will begin at 9:00PM and is scheduled to conclude at 3:00AM. It will be conducted in the area of 1000 E. Fourth Street, in the City of Santa Ana.

The Police Department in Placentia, announced a DUI checkpoint through a press release at facebook, that states that a DUI checkpoint will take place from 8pm to 2am at an unknown location in the City.

And, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department will be conducting roving DUI saturation patrols (where officers trained in DUI detection will be driving looking for persons suspected to be DUI, in the cities of Yorba Linda, Stanton, and Villa Park.

Why would police agencies announce a DUI checkpoint ahead of time for the Orange County DUI Checkpoint Information for June 19-21, 2015? Advance publicity is important to the maintenance of a constitutionally permissible sobriety checkpoint. Publicity both reduces the intrusiveness of the stop and increases the deterrent effect of the roadblock.

The concurring opinion in State ex rel. Ekstrom v. Justice Ct. of State, supra, 663 P.2d 992, at page 1001 explained the value of advance publicity: “Such publicity would warn those using the highways that they might expect to find roadblocks designed to check for sobriety; the warning may well decrease the chance of apprehending `ordinary’ criminals, but should certainly have a considerable deterring effect by either dissuading people from taking `one more for the road,’ persuading them to drink at home, or inducing them to take taxicabs. Any one of these goals, if achieved, would have the salutary effect of interfering with the lethal combination of alcohol and gasoline. Advance notice would limit intrusion upon personal dignity and security because those being stopped would anticipate and understand what was happening.” (663 P.2d 992, 1001, conc. opn. Feldman, J.; see also State v. Deskins, supra, 673 P.2d 1174, 1182.)

Publicity also serves to establish the legitimacy of sobriety checkpoints in the minds of motorists. Although the court in Jones v. State, supra, 459 So.2d 1068, found that advance publicity was not constitutionally mandated for all sobriety roadblocks, nevertheless the court offered the observation, consistent with finding reasonableness under the Fourth Amendment, that 1347*1347 “`[A]dvance publication of the date of an intended roadblock, even without announcing its precise location, would have the virtue of reducing surprise, fear, and inconvenience.’ [Citation.]” (Id., at p. 1080.)”

If you have questions for an expert in Orange County DUI matters, call out firm at (949) 682-5316 anytime.