Authorities will be out in full force this holiday weekend looking for drunken drivers through enforcement patrols and DUI checkpoints.

California Highway Patrol officers will begin their maximum enforcement period Friday at 6:01 p.m. and will continue until 11:59 p.m. Sept. 6.

During Labor Day weekend last year, CHP officers throughout the state made 1,417 arrests for driving under the influence.

City police departments have scheduled DUI and driver’s license checkpoints and some will conduct saturation patrols.

Brea Police is holding a DUI and driver’s license checkpoint on Friday from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Imperial Highway east of Valley View in Yorba Linda.

“If we catch you driving impaired, we will arrest you. No exceptions. No excuses,” said Sgt. Bill Smyser.

“We will be contacting drivers, making sure they are not impaired, arresting those who are, and getting the word out that impaired driving and driving without a proper license is not acceptable in Yorba Linda,” Smyser added.

The Placentia Police Department is conducting its checkpoint on Friday from 6 p.m. to 12 a.m. Police would not say where the checkpoint will be, only that it would be within the city.

Other scheduled checkpoints are taking place in Anaheim on Friday and La Habra on Saturday. Locations and times were not provided.

Scheduled saturation patrols will take place on Friday and Sunday in Orange and Saturday in Irvine.

The cities of Brea, Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley, Los Alamitos, Lake Forest, Laguna Niguel, and Tustin also scheduled saturation patrols during the enforcement period.

The Costa Mesa Police Department got an early start on their DUI enforcement, setting up a checkpoint at the Bristol Street and Randolph Avenue intersection Tuesday night.

Throughout the night, 1,181 drivers went through the checkpoint, resulting in the arrest of four drivers, according to the department. Two additional arrests were conducted as a result of the checkpoint, one of which was a drug possession arrest.

A total of 18 citations were issued and 15 vehicles were towed.

In Cypress, the police department set up a checkpoint that began at 8 p.m. Saturday and continued until 3 a.m. Sunday. Throughout the night, 733 vehicles went through the checkpoint that resulted in one DUI arrest, according to the department.

Authorities will be out in full force this holiday weekend looking for drunken drivers through enforcement patrols and DUI checkpoints, our Newport Beach DUI lawyers have learned.

California Highway Patrol officers will begin their maximum enforcement period Friday at 6:01 p.m. and will continue until 11:59 p.m. Sept. 6.

During Labor Day weekend last year, CHP officers throughout the state made 1,417 arrests for driving under the influence.

City police departments have scheduled DUI and driver’s license checkpoints and some will conduct saturation patrols.

Brea Police is holding a DUI and driver’s license checkpoint on Friday from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Imperial Highway east of Valley View in Yorba Linda.

“If we catch you driving impaired, we will arrest you. No exceptions. No excuses,” said Sgt. Bill Smyser.

“We will be contacting drivers, making sure they are not impaired, arresting those who are, and getting the word out that impaired driving and driving without a proper license is not acceptable in Yorba Linda,” Smyser added.

The Placentia Police Department is conducting its checkpoint on Friday from 6 p.m. to 12 a.m. Police would not say where the checkpoint will be, only that it would be within the city.

Other scheduled checkpoints are taking place in Anaheim on Friday and La Habra on Saturday. Locations and times were not provided.

Scheduled saturation patrols will take place on Friday and Sunday in Orange and Saturday in Irvine.

The cities of Brea, Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley, Los Alamitos, Lake Forest, Laguna Niguel, and Tustin also scheduled saturation patrols during the enforcement period.

The Costa Mesa Police Department got an early start on their DUI enforcement, setting up a checkpoint at the Bristol Street and Randolph Avenue intersection Tuesday night.

Throughout the night, 1,181 drivers went through the checkpoint, resulting in the arrest of four drivers, according to the department. Two additional arrests were conducted as a result of the checkpoint, one of which was a drug possession arrest.

A total of 18 citations were issued and 15 vehicles were towed.

In Cypress, the police department set up a checkpoint that began at 8 p.m. Saturday and continued until 3 a.m. Sunday. Throughout the night, 733 vehicles went through the checkpoint that resulted in one DUI arrest, according to the department.  If you need the services of our Orange County DUI Lawyers, don’t hesitate to contact us at (714) 568-1560 anytime.

Our Newport Beach DUI lawyers have learned of a DUI checkpoint announced by the Cypress Police Department.

DUI Checkpoint Summertime DUI Campaign Continues in the City of Cypress with Increased Enforcement & Awareness

The Cypress Police Department will be conducting a DUI/Driver’s License checkpoint on Saturday, August 28, 2010, from 8 p.m. to 3 a.m. within the city limits.

Personnel will be checking drivers to identify and arrest offenders, and DUI checkpoints can be a significant source of funds from federal grants and impound fees, mainly from unlicensed drivers.

If you have questions for our Newport Beach DUI Lawyers, call us at 877-568-2977, anytime.

Our Orange County DUI Lawyers have the results of the recent Irvine Police Department DUI Checkpoint. Irvine police arrested one suspected drunken driver during a checkpoint at Jeffrey Road and Barranca Parkway Saturday night.

They stopped 301 vehicles, issued 43 tickets, and conducted five sobriety tests of people who were not drunk, according to an Irvine Police Department press release. (That’s a 0.003% arrest rate, if you’re keeping track).

Publicity of the checkpoints is one of the criteria California courts use in determining their legality, under the Ingersoll decision factors.

As do other local police departments, Irvine conducts checkpoints as part of a state grant program, which often can be very lucrative for police agencies, even though they are not nearly as effective as roving patrols in getting drunk drivers off the road.

Our Orange County DUI Lawyers have learned, through the Orange County Register, that the Huntington Beach police department has found new ways to crack down on those who drink and drive after reports that the city has a “significant” problem with drunken drivers.

The department has announced an aggressive new DUI strategy that includes posting the names of DUI arrestees on their website, sending letters to restaurants that they believe are fueling drunken driving, and adding a third officer to a specialized DUI team. City officials began distributing the letters in the spring and are still reviewing the name postings and adding the third officer.

The strategy — laid out in 16-page report given to the City Council this month — said the city has a serious drunken driving problem.

Statistics show that in 2008 Huntington Beach had the third most DUI drivers in the state for a city of its size. Huntington Beach has about 201,000 residents.

Huntington Beach had about 1,000 more DUI arrests in 2008 than Irvine, a city with a similar population size, and 900 more arrests than Anaheim, a city with population almost double Huntington Beach’s.

Police DUI strategies may differ in each city in part because of the dynamics of that area, officials said.

“We try to find one that fits the needs of the community,” said Irvine police spokesman Lt. John Hare.

Irvine’ police department posts all of the names of arrestees on their website but does not have a specific list of DUI suspects. If a commander in charge of a certain geographical area of Irvine notices a trend in drunken driving they will approach a particular establishment, Hare said.

In Fullerton, which has a concentrated area of establishments that serve alcohol similar to Surf City’s downtown, police have been working with bar owners to help servers better identify when a customer has had too much to drink, said Fullerton police Cprl. Tim Kandler. They do not post name of DUI arrestees on their website, he said.

Huntington Beach police spokesman Lt. Russell Reinhart said his department’s DUI program is the most aggressive in the county.

Currently, the police do four to eight DUI checkpoints a year, have a specialized DUI patrol team, use their helicopters to catch DUI drivers, and put extra officers on patrol some Friday and Saturday nights. The department has received $1.4 million in grant funding to beef up DUI patrols.

For the past three years, the department has averaged 1,700 DUI arrests a year, the report said.

Still, police say they need more help.

“Even with all we have done there remains a significant DUI problem in Huntington Beach,” the report said. “Our resources were so quickly overwhelmed we believe on any given night a large number of drunk drivers likely leave our downtown area undetected.”

Some locals said that while drinking and driving is a serious offense, they have mixed opinions on the department’s new strategies.

Scott Spigelmire, 34, sat outside Beachfront 301 in downtown on a recent weekday evening drinking a Budweiser and a glass of water. He said posting the names of DUI arrestees was an invasion of privacy and increasing police presence might drive away business.

“There is no reason to drink and drive,” said Spigelmire, of Huntington Beach. “If you are too hammered, pay $50 to $100 bucks to get home in a cab. It could be so much more in the long run (if you drink and drive).”

Changing it up

Police could start posting the names of DUI arrestees this summer.

What do you think of posting the arestees’ names online? Vote in our poll below to the right.

DUI defense attorney Barry Simons said he disagreed with this approach.

“This has been a concept that has been floated around for years,” said Simons, a former dean of the national college for DUI Defense. “Humiliate them, single them out. It is the Scarlet Letter approach and there is absolutely no empirical data that things like that will do anything to affect recidivism.”

“It could have a damaging affect on an individual’s reputation,” he said.

Reinhart said that the arrests are public information and police expect that the public will help monitor DUI drivers. For example, someone can call the police if they see that a neighbor with a suspended license is driving, Reinhart said.

“We get tips on a regular basis and we are hoping to get more of them,” he said.

Councilman Joe Carchio said he supports posting the names, saying it might be a deterrent for people who drink and drive.

“I want to prevent people from drinking and driving but I also want to protect their rights as an individual,” he said. “I have no sympathy for drunk drivers. None whatsoever.”

Councilman Don Hansen said a policy to post the names needs to be further vetted.

“It may be a little far reaching and I’m concerned about those folks that may not be charged or could not even be guilty and if it is posted on the website there could be some … issues,” he said.

The department began sending letters to restaurants in April reporting at least one of their patrons was arrested for driving under the influence. Sharkeez and Hurricanes have received the most letters from the department, Reinhart said.

Sharkeez received four letters with 14 arrested on DUIs, and Hurricanes received three letters with eight people arrested for DUIs, he said.

Hurricanes manager Rich Jardine said the letters have been helpful to his staff. He alerted his servers and bartender to keep a closer eye on patrons.

“It is difficult to tell if they are over the legal limit of. 08,” said Jardine, who has been with Hurricanes for 18 years. “A lot of people can maintain to the naked eye and still be over the legal limit.”

Police will accumulate the DUI data and could place restrictions on the businesses’ licenses and permits, officials say.

Reinhart said the department hopes to add a third officer to their DUI enforcement team as soon as the funds become available.

Officers say they are after more than sober driving. They want life changes.

“We believe they are not only prevent deaths, injuries and traffic collisions; but potentially change people’s lives in a positive way that prevents other negative behaviors,” the report said.

Our Newport Beach DUI Lawyers were told that three people were arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol during a Saturday night police checkpoint, authorities said.

During the five-hour long checkpoint, police stopped 729 vehicles and conducted 16 field sobriety tests on the field, according to a statement released by the Laguna Beach Police.

More than 2,163 vehicles passed though the checkpoint, which was stationed on Pacific Coast Highway, near Vista Del Sol, meaning that the rate of capture for drivers under the influence is 0.0013%

According to the police statement, all drivers who were stopped were also given a brochure about the hazards of driving under the influence of alcohol.

Six drivers were also found to be unlicensed, and five additional drivers were issued citations for not carrying their license.

Four vehicles were also towed from the checkpoint, according to the police statement.

But officers at the checkpoint were not the only ones to have spotted drunk drivers Saturday night, according to police.

Outside of the checkpoint, five additional drivers were stopped and arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence.

LAGUNA BEACH – Four people were arrested on suspicion of drunken driving during Saturday’s checkpoint on Pacific Coast Highway, our Newport Beach DUI Lawyers learned.

Almost 2,000 vehicles passed the checkpoint between 9 p.m. and 2 a.m., and police stopped 705 drivers. The location on the 3100 block of South Coast Highway targeted traffic heading away from the city, according to a Laguna Beach Police release. The Buena Park Police Department assisted Laguna Beach police on the checkpoint, the second of four planned for this year.

Officers gave drivers pamphlets about the dangers of drinking and driving and also checked for valid driver’s licenses. Three drivers were found to be driving without a license, and another three drove on a suspended license.

Patrol officers in other parts of the city arrested two more people on suspicion of drunken driving.

HOLIDAY ENFORCEMENT PERIODS 2010 – January 2011*

Memorial Day Weekend – May 28 -31, 2010

Sargeant Burdette of the Newport Beach Police Department put out a press release, sent to our Orange County DUI Lawyers, regarding a Newport Beach DUI Checkpoint on Saturday night.

The Traffic Division of the Newport Beach Police Department will be conducting a sobriety/driver’s license checkpoint on Saturday May 22, 2010.  The location of the checkpoint will be northbound Newport Blvd. at Finley Ave.  The approximate hours of operation will be from 9:00 p.m. until 3:00 a.m.

Statistics show that DUI checkpoints are one of the worst ways to find drunk drivers, but they are popular with police.  Why?  Because they can mean serious money to the police departments that have them.  Federal money, MADD contributions, and especially impound fees for unlicensed drivers, add up, while the real drunk drivers, which can be better apprehended using targeted patrols, can easily avoid the checkpoints and continue to drive.

Call me if you need a DUI lawyer, and have a safe Saturday night.

The Fountain Valley Police Department will be conducting a DUI/Drivers License checkpoint on Friday, April 30, 2010 from 9pm until 3am, in the City of Fountain Valley. The location of the checkpoint will be made available on the day of the checkpoint by contacting the police department. DUI Checkpoints aren’t very effective in catching drunk drivers, but they are a huge source of federal funding cash, MADD money, and impound fees for the police department.

If you have any questions for an Orange County DUI Lawyer, call me at (714) 568-1560.