Orange County DUI Checkpoints May 27, 2017
It’s Memorial Day weekend! And the Orange County DUI Checkpoints scheduled for May 27, 2017 include DUI saturation patrols in Newport Beach, a DUI Checkpoint in Irvine, and a DUI Checkpoint in Santa Ana.
Irvine DUI Checkpoint
May 27th will be the date for an Irvine DUI Checkpoint within the City of Irvine. It will last from 8pm to 2 in the morning. It’s located on Culver Drive, at Barranca in Irvine.
Santa Ana DUI Checkpoint
The DUI checkpoint in Santa Ana scheduled for May 27th will be from 9:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.. It’s located on Fifth Street, between Bristol, and Fairview, in the City of Santa Ana. This is an unusual location for Santa Ana DUI checkpoints
Newport Beach DUI Saturation Patrols
DUI saturation patrols will take place from 4pm to 3am on May 27th, May 28th, and May 29th, all over the City of Newport Beach. Saturation Patrols are where trained officers drive, looking for driving patterns, and traffic violations that might indicate that someone is driving under the influence.
Why does law enforcement have Orange County DUI Checkpoints?
DUI Checkpoints are even admitted by law enforcement to be less effective than other means of removing drunk drivers from the road. But, even though DUI checkpoints don’t work, police state they had a deterrent effect preventing people from driving in the first place. The truth is that funding in grants from the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS), MADD, and the Federal Government ensure DUI checkpoints are used first before other measures.
Are DUI Checkpoints legal?
The US Supreme Court, as well as the law in California, makes DUI checkpoints legal, as long as they follow certain criteria, including:
- Decision making by supervisors: This is important to ensure that checkpoints aren’t set up in “arbitrary and capricious” locations. The court didn’t say so, but we’re guessing they wanted to avoid any accusations of racial profiling.
- Limits on discretion of field officers: The theme of distrust of the officer continues. Strict procedures and a random selection of drivers according to a preset pattern (every third driver, for example) are suggested to avoid abuse.
- Maintenance of safety conditions: We’re not sure how it applies to constitutionality, but the court wanted lots of bright lights and signs.
- Reasonable location: The location should be based on relevant factors, such as areas with high incidences of DUI or DUI accidents.
- Time and duration: There are no hard and fast rules, but the timing should be set to optimize the effectiveness of the checkpoint. In other words, put ’em up when the drunks are out.
- Indicia of official nature of roadblock: This is more babble about bright lights and warning signs. They do mention that the lights and signage should be visible for the sake of notification to the drivers. Drivers also can’t be pulled over for avoiding the checkpoint, unless they violate a law to do so.
- Length and nature of detention: The time of the stop should be minimized as to infringe on a person’s rights as little as possible. That means peek at the eyes, smell for booze, and look for cans. If there are no signs of intoxication, the driver should be let go. If they look or smell drunk, field sobriety tests are appropriate.
- Advance publicity: Ingersoll was in favor of advance publicity. It referred to the deterrent effect and stated that the notice minimizes intrusiveness to a person’s rights. In 1993, the court in People v. Banks stated that publicity was not a requirement, but it certainly helps.
Contact us
Contact our firm if you have any questions about Orange County DUI Checkpoints.
