AnonymousSource: Santa Maria Police Department
4 arrested for DUI while conducting a DUI checkpoint on April 30th, 2021.
The checkpoint was held at the 200 block of south Broadway from 6:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m.
9 drivers were cited for operating a vehicle unlicensed or with a suspended/revoked license, 204 vehicles were screened, and 0 were arrested for other criminal charges.
Checkpoint locations are based on a history of crashes and DUI arrests. The primary purpose of checkpoints is not to make arrests, but to promote public safety by deterring drivers from driving impaired.
The Santa Maria Police Department will hold another DUI/Driver’s License checkpoint in the upcoming months.
Funding for this checkpoint was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Only 4 of 13 arrests were actually for drunk driving?!?! Seems like these checkpoints are little more than a way to bypass the protections of the fourth amendment.
@CHIP OF SB—- I guess YOU have never been a victim of being hit by an UNLICENSED, UNINSURED or UNREGESTERED vehicle driven by someone with a FAKE I.D.
I wish they would screen EVERY driver as they do in every country in the E.U. Checking vehicles for tire wear, brakes and even unrepaired body damage….
Driving a vehicle on public roadways is NOT a “right” It’s a privilege that should be appreciated. When I drive down to Mexico, I need proof of ownership and MANDITORY MEXICAN INSURANCE as well as a FI card (Visa).. We need stricter vehicle and driver enforcement here.
This is mostly an overtime program for cops, allowing them to increase their salaries to the point where they might be able to afford to live in SB County after all. The cost of it must be really high compared to getting 13 drivers breaking our laws off the road.
Tell me more about how the EU screens every driver? It doesn’t seem possible but surprise me.
Unconstitutional and a waste of tax payer money. Stupid.
If it was only drunk drivers they’d wave the others through. This small survey says that for every drunk driver, there are 2.25 people with other issues that the police think are interesting enough to cite.
I’m somewhat in agreement with coastwatch. We all pay more insurance if we are hit by an uninsured driver. It’s not like we are asking people to do some herculean task here in the USA to have the right to drive. If I go to Mexico they don’t provide me with a test in English, a translator if I need one or a free lawyer to help me if I’m charged
I’m all for them always have been if they save one life or get one impaired driver off the road they served their purpose in my book.
This is the sort of thing that makes the point of those that want criminal justice reform. These stops are almost universally placed in neighborhoods where non affluent people travel. They almost universally target crimes of poverty–unlicensed vehicles, out of date d.l. s or no insurance. They are harassment of the poor designed to show who is in charge. On top of this is a ridiculous bureaucracy that gets paid big money to decide who gets the “grants”! Just give the money to the local community and let them decide what they want to spend it on.
COAST: I’ve been hit by an UNLICENSED, UNINSURED, UNDOCUMENTED driver. Cops actually let him go and told me that he’ll probably disappear back across the border for a time to lay low, then come back and do it again. That’s exactly what happened and I had to pay for the damages out of pocket. Since then I’ve always had uninsured motorist coverage.
Additionally, some of these vehicles that are UNREGISTERED are polluters that would never pass an emissions test. I thought people cared about the environment.
Science: Checkpoint locations are based on a history of crashes and DUI arrests.
Edney- Facts: patrolling for drunk drivers catches more than waiting around for them to show up.
Maybe I see it differently. 13 people out of 204 is about 6%. Each of these people presented a potentially lethal threat to the innocent public. LE is trying to mitigate this danger. As to RHS’ comments re ‘crimes of poverty,’ that is totally not the issue – it is about removing irresponsible drivers from the road, whatever their socio-economic status. If you or a loved one is killed by one of these folks, I expect you won’t be much concerned with social justice.
I don’t normally agree with you RHS, but I think you make an excellent point here. This is exactly the sort of abuse of power the fourth amendment was intended to protect against. Nobody should ever be stopped or searched without probable cause or a warrant.
Unless you wait for them at a place where the social sciences and facts say they’ve been before in high frequency.
Its like fishing.
paTROLL the entire ocean or put your lines out where the fish are historically.
Holy mother of Facts: where do you think they patrol the most for DUI?
Umm where social science, data and facts say we’ve never had an arrest for DUI before?
Hey. I got it!!! Lets post up at an intersection where we’ve never caught a drunk driver while on patrol and ignore the facts and social sciences
Unless you wait for them at a place where the social sciences and facts say they’ve been before in high frequency.
Its like fishing.
paTROLL the entire ocean or put your lines out where the fish are historically.
Holy mother of Facts: where do you think they patrol the most for DUI?
Umm where social science, data and facts say we’ve never had an arrest for DUI before?
Hey. I got it!!! Lets post up at an intersection where we’ve never caught a drunk driver while on patrol and ignore the facts and social sciences
EDNEY – you’re not a fisherman are you? You don’t troll aimlessly looking for them any more than you stand at the side of the lake where they were the last year when you fished it and expect them to swim into your net. No, you go to where ALL fish are EVERY day (ie, bars, liquor stores late at night, etc) and throw what you know works (ie, patroling or staking out) at them and keep moving if you don’t nab one after a couple casts. Standing in one spot for 9 hours with a net is the laziest and least effective way to catch a fish or a drunk driver.
The Supreme Court decided in Michigan v. Sitz back in 1990 that DUI checkpoints are constitutional and don’t violate the 4th amendment. They claimed that the benefits of preventing drunk driving outweigh the short inconvenience for sober drivers.
CHICO, I walked away with body damage to the vehicle only, so I was lucky. I’m sorry to hear about your neck, and I can empathize. I was ice climbing once, encountered a 100 foot deep chasm, jumped over it and landed on a steep piece of ice in a bad way and damaged my L4. I was young then, but it’s haunting me now that I’m older. I really feel for people who have any damage to their spine, as there’s not much you can do but to live with it and it sucks.
Safety checks don’t ensure that unlicensed drivers don’t drive. You can always get your licensed friend to do the safety check, just like you can get them to register your car. In fact, do they even take cars away from unlicensed drivers, or not allow them to register them? The only way you might be able to do this is to have facial recognition and license plate reader cameras everywhere, and even in the EU they haven’t decided to pursue this loss of privacy.
JB86–my loved one is more likely to be killed by a gun than by an person with an expired driver’s license. And unless you have had to make choices like doing without insurance in order to have money to feed yourself or family by driving to a job that has no alternative access I think you have little appreciation for what “crimes of poverty” are.
I was hit by an unlicensed, uninsured driver who BACKED UP AT A STOP SIGN. He then sped through the T-intersection. I followed him and blocked him in the back-of-the-shops parking area he pulled into and called the cops. They arrived, he gave them several different names. Didn’t work. The gringo policeman spoke Spanish. Nevertheless, for all the charges he was sited by let go. Again, the rational was he wouldn’t pay, wouldn’t go to court. My daughter was rear-ended, similar situation, she now has life-long back problems. An alternate punishment is needed; this should never have become a well-known option.
Same here Chem.
My neck has never been the same(4 surgeries).
JB86 – how do the 9 unlicensed drivers pose any more of a deadly threat to the “innocent public” than licensed drivers? A lot of assumptions need to be made to reach that conclusion.