Two DUI checkpoints conducted by Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station deputies on Friday resulted in 16 arrests, authorities said.
The checkpoints were located on northbound Railroad Avenue north of Oak Ridge Drive and eastbound Newhall Ranch Road east of Grandview Drive, and were conducted between the hours of 6 p.m. and 2 a.m.
File photo
A total of 13 unlicensed drivers were arrested and sent to court, two drivers with suspended or revoked licenses were arrested and sent to court and one suspect was arrested for driving a vehicle not equipped with an Ignition Interlock Device as required by law, according to a sheriff’s report.
Four vehicles were stored for one day, three vehicles were impounded for 30 days and eight vehicles were released per checkpoint release procedures.
Deputies checked 2,147 drivers at the checkpoints and 2,532 vehicles went through the checkpoints, according to the report.
The goal of DUI checkpoints is to deter drunk and drugged driving and raise awareness.
Checkpoints are placed in locations that have the greatest opportunity for achieving deterrence while providing the greatest safety for officers and the public, LASD officials said.
Checkpoints have provided the most effective documented results of any of the DUI enforcement strategies while also yielding cost savings of $6 for every $1 spent, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
– Melissa Lampert
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91 Comments
what was the DUI Test? Spell Sobriety backwards? 9-)
Keep up the good work.
More people need to know about Designated Drivers Santa Clarita, they will pick you up wherever you are in SCV and drive you AND your car home for $20, (661) 313-8336
Great Idea
Thanks, Jon
No dui arrests again?
Were are you going? where have you been? Papers please!?
Also important to note that LA county is a Guinea pig for the IID and if the drivers initial DUI arrest would have taken place in Ventura or San Bernardino Counties then said device would not be required thus no law would have been broken. United States where human rights vary not only state to state, but county to county.
https://m.facebook.com/safeandsobertransportation
No one should ever drive under the influence and endanger them self or other innocent people on the wrong place at the wrong time !
Uh, nobody was driving under the influence.
Am I the only one who is wondering why the sign is covered in blood…?.. lol
If you don’t drink and drive, don’t worry about it. Keep up the good work SCVPD
Not true. If you don’t have your driver’s license, you are in trouble. I wonder what they are going to do when they start issuing licenses to people without proper immigration papers, which is about to happen.
Revenue checkpoint
@Willium:
Lol! No, That was the main reason I read the article, aside from wondering what the occasion for having checkpoints, considering it’s not a holiday or anything.
Don’t drive without a valid licence and insurance. But if you do and are detected at a checkpoint, make sure you (or owner of vehicle) have someone on stand-by to come get the vehicle before the checkpoint closes. Otherwise, it will get impounded.
Also, your 4th and 5th amendment rights against searches and self incrimination are in tact at checkpoints, so you need not submit to a search or answer any verbal questions – but then be prepared to be DUI tested, however illegally.
http://www.TaxLyr.com
16 arrests and not a single one of them for DUI. SMH
Yeah, but were the arrests legitimate, and actually related to alcohol? I’m sick of these ‘show me your papers’ checkpoints. Nothing more than a revenue generation checkpoint.
Nobody was arrested for DUI. Nobody has been arrested for DUI at a checkpoint in well over two years as far as I know. These checkpoints are for generating revenue and overtime for the cops, and nothing more.
Obviously none of you have lost a family member because someone else made a stupid choice to drive drunk know and kill them.
Obviously you didn’t read the article. They didn’t catch any drunk drivers.
http://www.shouselaw.com/dui-checkpoint.html#3
Know your rights
They should have been stationed outside Central Park last night……
I was actually stopped at the Newhall Ranch one and felt it was very strange….All they did was ask for my license and look at it wierd…no questions asked while they shined a flashlight in my car. Never asked for registration, where I was or going.
Happened to me once on Plum Canyon, Louise. I figured that they were sniffing for alcohol on my breath, which there was none. I am always the designated driver. :)
Because you’re Caucasian.
If you are talking about me, Spencer, I didn’t get into any trouble because I was doing nothing wrong. My boyfriend and I got stopped another time on Plum Canyon coming from the Mexican restaurant. This time, he was driving. He was born in Mexico and has a heavy accent. Same thing happened, nothing.
That’s racist.
Sadly, it’s also true.
This is really a miserable waste of resources. Between the (illegal) red light cameras, and the (illegal) DUI checkpoints, it’s beginning to feel like a police state around here.
The red light cameras are illegal because a real person has to observe you breaking the law, not a machine, yet the city keeps them running because not everyone knows that if you get a red light camera ticket, you toss it in the trash and go about your business. Some people actually pay these things.
The DUI checkpoints are illegal because the case that allows the police to violate your constitutional rights (http://www.motorists.org/dui/roadblock) was predicated on the notion that an exception to the Fourth Amendment could be made since drunk driving was so dangerous. The problem the city has here is that in SCV, no drunk drivers are ever caught in checkpoints. They know where they are, and they are out driving around avoiding them. I doubt that the Supreme Court would approve a checkpoint that does nothing but catch people for driver’s license violations.
We need to start complaining about both the cameras and the checkpoints. If the City Council won’t listen, then perhaps a bunch of us need to file a lawsuit. I am tired of the City violating my rights just because it can.
I can’t understand why anyone would post ur rights not to get searched etc on this post… If you drive without a drivers license or registration or insurance u are driving illegally. If you drive under the influence u are committing a crime – whether or not you have hit or killed someone yet … Let’s face it if you drive responsibly you won’t Ever have to worry about check points. It’s common sense – don’t do something illegal or stupid and you won’t have to worry about its consequences. Let’s also start talking about the other side of this : if it were your kid / mom /dad who gets killed by a drunk driver tonight – you would be thankful they took the probability off the street tonight… If you got into an accident tonight with someone who is not insured you d better pray you have uninsured motorist on your end. Check points also get people who have warrants off the street so either way it’s good all around … Driving is a privilege not a right . Drive responsibly and you won’t have to worry about your rights.
Perfectly stated,Nathalie.
Nathalie, your post reminds me of people who say things like “if you aren’t doing anything wrong, you shouldn’t mind if the police search your house just to make sure”, etc. What you are missing here is that the police themselves are breaking the law. In case you missed the class in high school, we have this thing called the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution that is actually a law – you may want to read it, because it gives all of us certain rights that the local police checkpoints routinely violate.
The current excuse being used is that the checkpoints “deter drunk drivers”. This reminds me of the joke where the guy is standing in front of City Hall beating a large drum, and another guy asks him why: “It’s to keep the elephants away” – “There aren’t any elephants within 100 miles of here” – “See? It works!”
I want to see the evidence that the checkpoints deter drunk driving. Real evidence, not some cop’s opinion.
Wow, I thought all arrests were drunk drivers, but after reading it I guess none of them were drunk? It seems like all of the arrests were people who were not properly licensed to drive.
I was also stopped by the one on newhall ranch and had the same experience – they just looked at my license.
As I understand it, they are not allowed to ask for your license unless you have committed a traffic violation, or they have probable cause to believe that you don’t have a license. Neither of these conditions seem likely when creeping along in a checkpoint line.
Rename this to the unlicensed drivers checkpoint
Rename this to the unlicensed drivers checkpoint
They should rename it to the “Civil Rights Violations” checkpoint – because that is exactly what happens.
They should call it the search your car and check your I.D. with zero probable cause checkpoint. I’m all for deturring DUI but let’s call a spade a spade.
I like how the border is wide open but we treat our citizens like we are in Nazi Germany.
That’s sucks … No DUI
….. Only ppl without Licences….wth
I thought check points was only for drunk ppl -.- SmH …No Bueno …
Old fat white people…let em go. Everyone else license and registration please
Sure Bob. Don’t start whining when one day they search your house – without a warrant.
$35,000 x 16 people which politician is getting that money!!!
Matthew Entrekin
Julia LimStacy M KimSamuel Kim
Funny in this day and age of social media, they still get 16 drunk drivers in one night. People gotta stop instagramming and start paying attention. I even knew this checkpoint was there and I live in Arizona! This is the one on San Fernando road right Paul?
You might want to read the article. They didn’t catch ANY drunk drivers.
Funny in this day and age of social media, they still get 16 drunk drivers in one night. People gotta stop instagramming and start paying attention. I even knew this checkpoint was there and I live in Arizona! This is the one on San Fernando road right Paul?
Yeahya I drove right around it not like I hab deen brinking
Yeahya I drove right around it not like I hab deen brinking
Do what all my friends do and Go on twitter to mr dui checkpoint every weekend so that you can avoid all the nonsense!! All our tax dollars and not one dui arrest. What a joke!!
Who tossed their cookies on the sign!
Never wish bad will on others, but I do hope karma bites aboa few of you right in the butt. We have a wan-a-be attorney and many others who feel their rights have been violated on this thread and one who wants to extend his social services to the police. People you consent to search and testing as soon as you get your license and sign for it or renew it. You may want to read what you agree to when you get your license. I do however agree with every post related to must be a legal US Citizen to get your license to drive regardless of what state you live in. It is a privilage and your responsibility to follow the rules…also known as law. FTR – the DUI Check points are funded through grants and bills which “we” vote for or in some cases dont vote for and lose when we are at the polls. God speed to all and may you and your families be safe on the roads.
So cal guy, you do NOT consent to being searched when you get your license. Constitutional rights do not disappear because you happen to be driving a car.
I got caught in the one on Newhall Ranch Rd. Was scary, had never had this happen before. The sheriff was very nice, and efficient. I was on my way in no time!
I got caught in the one on Newhall Ranch Rd. Was scary, had never had this happen before. The sheriff was very nice, and efficient. I was on my way in no time!
Nice to know that they are pleasant and efficient – while they violate your rights.
If there have been no DUI arrests lately at the driver’s license checkpoints, then we need them all over the place, all of the time, because they obviously deter drunk driving – in addition to getting unlicensed drivers off of our streets.
They deter absolutely nothing. Do you really believe that people are not driving drunk on our streets and avoiding the checkpoints ? Five minutes after a checkpoint goes up, you can find it’s exact location on several internet services or even on a mobile phone app – and avoid it. the only time drunk drivers get caught is when they get stopped by a mobile checkpoint, otherwise known as a police car. Not having a license is not a safety hazard – it is generally an indication of immigration status.
if there are so many rights being violated, and people being treated unfairly and laws being broken, then why are there no attorneys parked right after the check points handing out their business cards? I would guess that what local law enforcement is doing is in fact 100% legal. If you drive a car on the streets, have your legal license, registration, proof of insurance and don’t drive while intoxicated or under the influence of any drugs and you won’t have a problem getting through the check points. Simple.
Yeah – if it were in any way illegal or unconstitutional, Kevin Shenkman would have been all over this. :)
Wonderful logic. No attorney wants to get into a lawsuit with the police for many reasons, most of them financial. That doesnt mean that what is going on is legal.
I agree with you, So Cal Guy.
No DUI arrests? Checkpoint seems to be working.
Right and no elephants running through our streets either. Checkpoints must be working.
That sign looks like some drunk threw up on it.
Just sayin’
If they can manage to catch a drunk driver, maybe they can have that person clean the sign as part of the community service.
Seriously, I had no idea I was living in a community with such a large number of unpatriotic citizens. I am a good American who believes in the law, which includes the Constitution, which in turns includes the Bill of Rights. I think that letting people violate the law and not objecting to that is unpatriotic and unamerican, yet I see people on here who are perfectly happy to have the police violate their rights with impunity.
“If you haven’t done anything wrong you have nothing to worry about”. BS. I have my rights to worry about and so do you people.
For about 250 years, we have had Americans fight and die to protect those rights. The least you people can do is to have some respect for that and for our laws, and stop encouraging lawbreaking by the people who are supposed to *enforce* the laws.
Well, whether it’s the 4th amendment or the 1st, there are always pitfalls when you take anything to extremes. Doing so might even lead to you conclude that a 12-year sentence for a child molester “seems rather harsh” even after he pleaded guilty and agreed to the sentence.
I think that what probably amounts to a death sentence for videotaping someone fully clothed in a public place is a bit harsh, yes. I am entitled to that opinion just as you are entitled to yours.
Perhaps you could try responding to the topic of this thread and the points I raised regarding patriotism ? I take it that the 1st and 4th amendments are ok with you, provided they aren’t taken to “extremes” ? Like being followed and enforced? What about the 2nd ? Same thing there ? I am betting not.
Hmm. Never really thought about one amendment being any more important than another … although if we were forced to pick one, then obviously we would have to pick the 1st. That said, we would never want to make the mistake of thinking our interpretation of any of them is the only valid interpretation, as some people seem to do around here. Incessantly.
I’ve yet to hear your interpretation, but I would certainly like to.
Well let’s hope we never have a reason to formulate one. The only one we actively use is the 1st, and so far it has served us pretty well.
msc545…Please know that I am saying this in a nice tone. I am not one who enjoys conflict or arguing. I understand what you are saying and I agree with you. I object when people violate the law, yet nothing is done about it. I know, from first hand experience, that the Federal Government knowingly breaks the law and so what can I do about it? In the instance that we are talking about, I don’t mind it because it is for the good of the community, in my humble opinion. Many people who drive without a license, could be former DUI’s or have so many tickets that they should be off of our streets. But I do understand your position.
Here is the text of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution. I’m posting it in the hope that some of you will actually read and think about it:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects,[a] against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Pay special attention to the part that says “probable cause” please.
Linda, first of all, thanks for addressing me directly – it was getting kind of lonely! :) I hope you will support me and the point I am trying to discuss.
Please explain to me in what way the checkpoints and the red light cameras are for “the good of the community”:
By having police standing around catching NO drunks but instead performing illegal driver’s license checks ? The police work for us, not the other way around . Surely we have some say in how they spend their time, being that we pay for it.
By telling us that the checkpoints “deter” drunk drivers when there is absolutely no evidence that they do anything of the sort ? (I think the only measurable effect is increased local access for a few hours to Twitter and the websites that list the exact location of every checkpoint in California).
By making a mockery of our laws and our Constitution by operating those illegal checkpoints and asking for drivers licenses without probable cause ?
By the City operating those red light cameras knowing full well that the tickets that are issued can not be enforced except against the ignorant, who really are probably the same people that cannot afford the fines?
By the City contending that the red light cameras increase safety, while knowing that while they reduce one sort of accident (t-bone), they simply increase another kind (rear end) ?
By the City deciding that we can’t fly model airplanes in OUR parks that WE built with OUR tax money ? I don’t recall this being put to a vote.
I don’t often agree with Darryl Manzer, but he sure got it right on this one!
Last time I checked, this was still the United States of America, not some tinpot dictatorship where people’s every move is scrutinized. If we don’t start standing up for our rights we won’t have any.
Why am I not getting support from all of you “patriots” ?
msc545…I did not know that about the red light cameras. If one does not have to pay a fine, then why the cameras and why do I remember seeing signs that state a fine amount if they are not able to follow through? That is dumb and a waste of money.
I have not done my own research on these checkpoints. The two that we got stopped in, I was not asked for my license and my Mexican-born, American citizen boyfriend,with a very thick accent, was not asked for his either. My boyfriend’s sister and her boyfriend were with us that night, behind us in their car. He said the same thing, he was not asked for his license either. As I stated before, I figured that they were just smelling our breath and the interior of the car while they asked whatever it was that they asked, I don’t remember. I’m sorry, but I don’t take this as a major thing. I find a greater “making a mockery of our laws”, again, with the Federal Government when it comes to providing housing for ones who are not documented to live in the U.S. I am not a racist, just don’t make the law if you aren’t going to enforce it.
I am not a lawyer, but as I understand it, a human being has to witness a person breaking the law and personally hand them a citation for it to be enforceable. Neither of these things is true for a red light camera, so instead, the City just mails the registered owner a very official looking citation that they *hope* the person will pay attention to. If the person does not, there is really nothing at all they can do. I have had this happen to me twice now, and both times ignored the citations on the advice of my attorney (it wasn’t me and it wasn’t even my car in the pictures they sent), and that was well over a year ago. Since then I have renewed my driver’s license without incident, which I would not have been able to do had these been real citations that I ignored. So basically the City is running a scam – sending out fake citations and hoping people will be ignorant and pay them. I guess some people do. The City of Los Angeles and other cities have removed these cameras because they were causing rear-end accidents and they had the same problems with the citations. Santa Clarita, rather than being honest about the situation, instead chooses to try to scam the residents, which is really pretty criminal.
I don’t know who gets asked for their licenses. It was my impression that just about everyone did, but if only certain people are being asked, then they are profiling, which is yet another illegal practice.
I guess I think that if we have enough money to buy multi-million dollar planes to kill people with, we probably have enough for modest housing for people so they don’t have to live on the streets….
You’re right about one thing: You are not a lawyer.
I don’t think you are either, but if you are, please feel free to correct me.
No, we hire people for that.
So talk to someone you’ve hired. That is what you pay them for, right ?
… and the DUI-CDL checkpoints remain. Game over.
No, you are wrong about that. What you are saying is “we have to accept this because we can’t do anything about it”. I am surprised at your defeatist attitude; of course we can do something about the problem – this is why we have elections. My hope is that the next time we are in the process of electing someone, they will be asked questions on their position regarding the checkpoints, the cameras, and using our parks for their intended purpose of recreation, and that at least in part people will vote for them (or not) based on their responses. In the alternative, perhaps one or more citizens who are stopped at a checkpoint will decline to allow their rights to be violated, and depending on what happens afterward, we may have a court case to help guide everyone in this matter. I am going to keep discussing this as long as I can with everyone I can because ignoring it means they will keep doing it, and I believe it to be both wrong and an ineffective use of police resources they we need to really keep our community safe.
Here is what ABC had to say – I think they research these things:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/red-light-cameras-ticket-fines-voluntary/story?id=14176755
Thanks msc545 for the link. I learned something new. My BF’s brother has gotten two of those red light tickets and has paid them both. I will have to inform him. He’s a bad driver anyway. I agree that is not right to do to us. Makes me not trust them. On the matter of the checkpoint; I don’t know who they would be profiling.
I’m glad I could be helpful. I don’t trust them either when they do things like this. Regarding the checkpoint, if they didn’t ask you for your license, but asked other people, there must be some criteria they are using to decide who they ask and who they don’t. I would like to know what those criteria are since doing this sort of thing is called “profiling” which is illegal, unless it happens to be just random selection. If it is based on something like gender or skin color, that is seriously illegal.
Here is another interesting link:
http://www.laweekly.com/2011-06-16/news/jay-beeber-folk-hero-stops-l-a-s-red-light-cameras/