Despite concerns about apps steering offenders away from checkpoints and the cost-effectiveness of setting them up, law enforcement officers in Carroll County say road blocks do work. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, checkpoints reduce alcohol-related crashes.
Although the Supreme Court ruled in 1990 that sobriety checkpoints are constitutional, some states don’t allow them.
“The main goal of sobriety check points is to try to catch those who are violating the DUI/open container laws,” Georgia State Patrol Cpl. M. L. Stewart said. “Not to mention, it sends a proactive message to those who might think about drinking and driving.”
While statistics on how many DUI arrests were made last year are unavailable, the Villa Rica state patrol post conducted somewhere between 50 and 75 checkpoints in 2010, if not more.
“In today’s times with the steep gas prices, it is most definitely cost-effective to have a road check versus having troopers or officers ride around,” Stewart said. “While at a road check, you can leave your car shut off most of the time while you are at that location.”
Post personnel average between 25 to 35 DUI arrests a month, which includes drug and alcohol arrests during road checks and rolling patrols. Stewart said some checkpoints lead to many arrests while others net hardly any.
“Usually there are a few locations that you know you will get several quantity arrests (for seat belt and child restraint violations),” he said. “But you may not get the quality arrests (for DUI, drugs and suspended or revoked licenses) that you had hoped for. In my personal experience on road checks that do not usually net many arrests, it has been because the road checks have been heavily publicized.”
Even if a location doesn’t net many arrests, Stewart feels checkpoints are helpful because they let the public in those areas and the people who pass through see the officers’ presence.
“It is always helpful and beneficial when citizens see officers at particular locations,” he said.
Stewart said the public should not be concerned that the checkpoint ties up resources.
“If something were to happen that needed the attention of the personnel at the road check, it is so easy to discontinue the road check and answer the call, or it is even easier to just release that trooper or officer needed to answer the call,” he said.
Some law enforcement officials argue that if drivers can pinpoint DUI checkpoints, some will drink all they want, then drive on roads that bypass the crackdowns.
“That is always a concern of ours, but we try to think of ways to counteract those tactics,” Stewart said.
U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, Charles Schumer, Frank Lautenberg and Tom Udall asked smartphone makers Apple, Google and Research in Motion to stop selling apps that allow drivers to locate checkpoints. Stewart feels it would be good if the apps were no longer sold, but pointed out it would not have much of an effect on the number of arrests made during checkpoints.
“Unfortunately, we still net about the same number of violations that we have been netting in the past,” Stewart said. “I think that road checks are a vital part of proactive law enforcement, and they are usually very productive overall.”
Carrollton police Capt. Chris Dobbs believes the DUI checkpoints apps are promoting that it’s OK to drive drunk.
“I do have a problem with that,” Dobbs said.
He would rather see an application that will help drunk motorists find a cab to take them home.
“Let’s come up with an application that would help people get home from a bar,” Dobbs said. “Let’s promote that.”
He also feels checkpoints are effective no matter the amount of DUI drivers caught at a particular location because those arrests could have possibly saved a life.
“It works,” Dobbs said. “We do make arrests. We’re getting the people who shouldn’t be driving on the roads.”
The Carrollton Police Department’s checkpoints are used for checking valid driver’s licenses and insurance, according to Capt. Jami Sailors.
“They are not used for the purpose of sobriety checkpoints,” Sailors said. “During the course of these types of checkpoints, we do find drivers that are intoxicated, persons with warrants, persons in possession of illegal narcotics, and persons committing various other types of offenses (such as suspended driver’s license).”
If officers find problem areas around the city where there are a large number of accidents or high incidents of arrest for traffic violations, they target those areas. The department conducted 18 checkpoints in 2010 and 13 so far this year. Statistics on the number of arrests made were not available.
“Our aim at the police department is to stop dangerous and costly violations of the law and our hope is that those who do drive without insurance, driver’s license, or drive intoxicated will think of the possibility of getting stopped at one of these checkpoints and going to jail,” Sailors said.
He also does not agree with the idea that road blocks cost law enforcement a lot of money.
“The patrol vehicles are stationary and are not burning gasoline,” Sailors said. “Also, there are several officers at these checkpoints and this factor increases officers’ safety. They are just an additional tool to officers patrolling their assigned area and stopping violations of the law. When a checkpoint is going on, there are still officers patrolling the city.”
Checkpoints don’t tie up the department’s resources, he said.
“We have six officers assigned to the traffic division and their main duties are to investigate traffic accidents and to enforce traffic laws,” Sailors said. “They are responsible for the most checkpoints administered. We also coordinate with the Carroll County Sheriff’s Department’s HEAT unit and the West Georgia Regional Traffic Network to assist in these checkpoints.”
The regional network is made of agencies from Carrollton, Villa Rica, Temple, Carroll and Douglas counties, Georgia State Patrol as well as other agencies in this region. The network is a part of the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety in Georgia.
Aside from the cost to law enforcement agencies to conduct checkpoints, University of West Georgia criminology professor David Jenks believes it is important to consider what’s more cost-effective for society and the damage associated with accidents involving DUI drivers.
“DUI checkpoints are shown to reduce drunk driving accidents and fatalities by up to 20 percent,” Jenks said.
He feels more money should be allocated to law enforcement personnel who can man checkpoints. Stopping drunk drivers before they get involved in a wreck can eliminate medical bills and other associated wreck-related costs.
“If you look at it that way, it makes sense,” Jenks said.
He believes only looking at the costs to law enforcement agencies is a “short-sighted way of looking at the program.” As far as the concerns of checkpoints tying up traffic, he considers it a minor inconvenience.
“Most DUI checkpoints don’t take any longer than a red light or four-way stop,” Jenks said. “DUI checkpoints on your way to or from somewhere are not burdensome considering the benefits of taking drunk drivers off the road.”
In regard to DUI checkpoint apps, he is not concerned that drunk drivers will use the technology to avoid road checks.
“Drunk drivers don’t typically make rational decisions,” Jenks said of impaired motorists who make a series of bad decisions when deciding to get behind the wheel of a car. “They’re not going to check an app on their smartphone.”
He would rather the apps be available to law-abiding citizens.
“It’s a good idea to post those so people who think it’s an inconvenience to drive though one can drive around them,” Jenks said.
Aside from being an inconvenience, some critics contend that DUI checkpoints strip away individual rights.
“I consider DUI checkpoints, which stop all drivers without any evidence that they are alcohol impaired, to be illegal searches which should outlawed under the Fourth Amendment,” said Robert Poole, director of transportation policy at the Reason Foundation. “Law enforcement officers should have probable cause to stop a vehicle and assess the driver’s alcohol-related status. A DUI checkpoint approach dispenses with probable cause.”
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