DUI checkpoints an expensive tactic
|
|
On a moonlit spring evening in Mechanicsville, a detail of Hanover County sheriff’s deputies and state troopers figured the timing was right. It was Friday, the opening night of the long Memorial Day weekend — prime time for nailing drunken drivers. From 11 p.m. until 3 a.m. officers funneled nearly 800 cars through a sobriety checkpoint at the Hanover-Henrico county line on U.S. 360. More than 100 drivers were questioned and had their licenses checked. Six were arrested on charges of driving under the influence. Ten others were administered breath tests that were positive for alcohol levels within legal limits. “At first, you get the ones who have been drinking and get really mad because you’ve stopped them from getting home on time,” said a veteran law enforcement officer on the scene. “Then you get the ones who are more intoxicated and know they’ve been caught. They are the happy-goofy ones.” Before the evening was over, Hanover deputies had issued 33 summonses and arrested an additional 14 people on other offenses, ranging from drugs to outstanding warrants on immigration violations. Immobile, expensive and labor-intensive, sobriety checkpoints are the fishing net of roadway law enforcement — catching everyone who enters but keeping only the violators, including impaired mo- torists. “DUI road checkpoints, in and of themselves, are not necessarily designed to catch people under the influence,” said Sgt. Rob Netherland, who supervises DUI checkpoints and patrols for Henrico County. But Netherland and other… |