Los Angeles County Criminal Lawyer Blog

Beverly Hills police recently told its city council that the real purpose of holding an average of seven DUI checkpoints isn't to actually arrest people for DUI in Century City and the surrounding area. Instead, DUI checkpoints are held to increase awareness against drinking and driving.

While information of DUI checkpoint operations is sometimes hidden from the public, Century City DUI defense lawyers find it interesting that police departments statewide and nationwide use these expensive operations with few expectations of actually arresting people they stop.

As the Los Angeles County Criminal Lawyer Blog recently reported, three vehicles were impounded and another was impounded during a DUI checkpoint in Ventura.

DUI checkpoints are typically set up following events that involve alcohol or in areas of town where there are many bars or the likelihood that people will be drinking and driving. They are usually conducted on weekend nights, when more people typically are out and about.

Beverly Hills police told its council that the real purpose in holding checkpoints isn't to make arrests, but simply to "bring DUI driving to the forefront of people's thought process," according to a police department lieutenant.

Some facts provided by police:

• 25 to 30 officers staff these checkpoint operations


• The department holds an average of 7 per year


• They cost $10,000 each to operate, with money coming from state grants


• Locations are chosen based on past DUI arrest frequency


• Checkpoints average 2,223 vehicles, while only 1 in 5 -- about 480 -- are actually stopped and screened


• Three field sobriety tests are conducted, on average, at a checkpoint


• One driver gets arrested for DUI, 3.3 for driving without a license, 2.5 for driving with a suspended license and 0.3 for drug offenses, on average

That is a staggering amount of police manpower, time and money to spend on simply intimidating drivers. Perhaps some creative thought should go into a different type of public relations campaign if officers simply want to sear something into a person's mind.

For the people who get stopped and screened, they're no doubt terrified, even if they've done nothing wrong. Even a person who has had one drink could end up with an arrest if officers determine that he or she has been drinking and driving, even if under the state's .08 limit. Yet others who go unscreened -- the process for selecting who gets screened and who doesn't is unclear -- may get away with it.

It's a broken system, but officers don't seem concerned to fix it. Instead, they appear intent on taking state money -- from a cash-strapped, state-government budget at that -- and doing checkpoints once every other month. While they won't end up getting many arrests, at least they'll be able to scare the people they're sworn to protect in the process.