Archive for January, 2011

Orange County DUI Checkpoint Results – Huntington Beach (and Long Beach DUI Checkpoint announced)

Friday, January 21st, 2011

The Huntington Beach Police Department conducted a sobriety checkpoint on Saturday, January 15, 2011, on Beach Boulevard at Speer Street.  DUI checkpoints are a major money maker .  The statistical data for the evening was:

• Vehicles through the checkpoint – 1570
• Vehicles screened for DUI – 528
• Field Sobriety Tests administered – 42
• DUI Arrests – 11
• Other Criminal Arrests – 0
• Unlicensed/Suspended citations – 10
• Vehicles impounded – 6
• Other citations – 8

The checkpoint began at 9:30 pm and ended at 3:00 am.   The next checkpoint is tentatively scheduled for a weekend in February 2011.

I also was tipped off to a Long Beach Police Department DUI Checkpoint, in the East Part of the City of Long Beach, starting at 9pm on January 22, 2011.  If you have questions for a DUI Specialist Orange County, call me at (877) 568-2977, anytime.

Archive for January, 2011

Orange County DUI Checkpoint Results – Huntington Beach (and Long Beach DUI Checkpoint announced)

Friday, January 21st, 2011

Our Orange County DUI Lawyers have a secret tip about two DUI checkpoints for tonight, January 14, 2011.

Although not announced on the Orange Police Department website, or in a press release, the Orange Police Department intend to conduct a DUI checkpoint tonight, on Tustin Avenue, likely near the Fling and other hotspots (or dive bars, in the case of the Fling) in the City of Orange, California.

The Huntington Beach Police Department will hold a DUI checkpoint starting at 9 p.m. Saturday on Beach Boulevard.

If you have questions for a DUI Specialist Orange County, call me anytime at (877) 568-2977.  Be safe out there – knowledge is power!

Archive for January, 2011

Orange County DUI Checkpoint Results – Huntington Beach (and Long Beach DUI Checkpoint announced)

Friday, January 21st, 2011

According to a press release sent to our Orange County DUI Lawyers, from the Costa Mesa Police Department, the Costa Mesa Police Department conducted a DUI/Drivers License Checkpoint on Friday, January 7, 2011.  The location of Friday’s checkpoint was on 17th Street at Raymond Avenue.

The DUI Checkpoint had the following statistics:
1005 Vehicles through the checkpoint
778  Vehicles Screened
5  Drivers given field sobriety tests
2  DUI Suspects Arrested
34  Driver’s license investigations
19  Citations issued
5  Unlicensed and Suspended Drivers Sent to Court
5 Vehicles towed

That’s a rate of 0.0019%, and over a thousand motorists were inconvenienced by the DUI Checkpoint.

The checkpoint was funded by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.  Yesterday, in the Daily Pilot Newspaper, the following (from an admittedly biased source, but she is definitely 100% correct) appeared:

“Sobriety checkpoints — like the one planned for Costa Mesa Jan. 7 — often fail to make even a single drunk-driving arrest despite stopping hundreds of vehicles (“DUI checkpoint slated for Friday night,” Jan. 6).

A 2009 University of Maryland study found that checkpoints don’t have “any impact on public perceptions, driver behaviors, or alcohol-related crashes, police citations for impaired driving, and public perceptions of alcohol-impaired driving risk.”

Next time, Costa Mesa police should employ roving — or saturation — patrols in which officers patrol the roadways for dangerous drivers.

State supreme court cases from both Pennsylvania and New Hampshire revealed that roving patrols caught 10 times more drunk drivers than checkpoints. According to the FBI, “It is proven that saturation efforts will bring more DUI arrests than sobriety checkpoints.” Patrols also stop distracted, speeding, aggressive and drowsy drivers because officers can catch them in the act.

Sarah Longwell

Managing Director

American Beverage Institute

Washington, D.C.”

Couldn’t have said it better myself.  If there wasn’t so much funding for ineffective DUI checkpoints, including money from MADD, federal funding through the NTSB, and grants from the California State Office of Traffic Safety, mainly for officer overtime, keep police from catching the real drunk drivers, and tie up traffic and officer time.  The five unlicensed drivers that were arrested were the real jackpot, as the impound from 30 to 180 days, at a daily rate of over $100, makes major bucks for the police department and the impound lots they associate with.

I hate to sound like a conspiracy theorist here, but following the money does have interesting effects sometimes.

As always, if you have questions for me, as a DUI Specialist Orange County, call me at (714) 568-1560.

Archive for January, 2011

Orange County DUI Checkpoint Results – Huntington Beach (and Long Beach DUI Checkpoint announced)

Friday, January 21st, 2011

Our Orange County DUI Lawyers have learned from the OC Sheriff’s Department that the 2010/11 Winter Holiday DUI Mobilization crackdown on drinking drivers has ended and resulted in 743 arrests for DUI from 12:01 AM Friday, December 17th, through midnight Sunday January 2, 2011, officers representing Orange County law enforcement agencies arrested 743 individuals for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.  In 2009/10, 602 DUI arrests occurred during the same time period with no deaths reported.

Law enforcement officials will be conducting more “Avoid” anti-DUI efforts throughout the county and region during Super Bowl Sunday and then again for local St Patrick’s Day festivities.

Funding for the AVOID program is provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Archive for January, 2011

Orange County DUI Checkpoint Results – Huntington Beach (and Long Beach DUI Checkpoint announced)

Friday, January 21st, 2011

Our Orange County DUI Lawyers have a hot tip that Costa Mesa police will conduct a DUI checkpoint Friday night on 17th Street.

From 6 to 11 p.m., police will be stationed at 17th Street and Raymond Avenue, stopping drivers to see if they’re under the influence of drugs or alcohol or have a valid driver’s license.

Police consider checkpoints an educational tool, rather than effective enforcement against DUIs.  Saturation patrols are much more effective, but substantial funding from the Federal Government, the State’s Department of Traffic Safety, and MADD go towards checkpoints, mainly for officer overtime, not the more effective saturation patrols.

Costa Mesa is ranked 20th on the list of California cities with the most DUIs, police said. In all, police have arrested more than 3,800 people in Costa Mesa on suspicion of driving under the influence since 2008.