California Highway Patrol officers made three arrests Friday night when they conducted a DUI-driver’s license checkpoint in Sand Canyon, outside city of Santa Clarita limits.
CHP officers screened 337 cars and made one DUI arrest and cited two unlicensed drivers at a checkpoint near the intersection of Sand Canyon Road and Sierra Highway. The checkpoint was scheduled to take place from about 7 p.m. until 2 a.m.
All three vehicles associated with the alleged crimes were towed, according to CHP Officer John Lutz of the Newhall area CHP office.
Local law enforcement agencies, both the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station and the California Highway Patrol, regularly host checkpoints in the Santa Clarita Valley supported by federal grants.
Even though arrest totals do not rise dramatically, the psychological influence a checkpoint has on the motoring public is invaluable, according to officials.
Sobriety checkpoints are conducted in accordance to the guidelines for checkpoint operations outlined in the U.S. Supreme Court decision Ingersol vs. Palmer.
Traffic volume permitting, all vehicles are checked. If traffic volumes become too heavy, vehicles to be checked are selected by a pre-set standard, such as every fifth vehicle, according to a CHP statement.
Funding for this program is provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
For further information, please feel free to contact California Highway Patrol Public Information Officer John Lutz at (661) 294-5540.
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41 Comments
Wow amazing.
337 people for one dui
The inconvenience of 337 people is worth the possibility of saving 1 life.
Unlike.
There a Taxis like Scott Sussmans, there are the Designated Drivers who will drive you and your car home. Many other options. Have your kid come get you if no other resort. No reason to drink and drive.
“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety”- Benjamin Franklin
James, we give up thousands of liberties. They are called laws. How else can a society made up of everything from clean livers to criminals survive?
A DUI checkpoint with one arrest for DUI and two for being unlicensed. That doesn’t sound much like a DUI checkpoint.
Well Dakota it may not sound like a lot, but that one irresponsible idiot they took off of the streets could have killed someone including YOU or your loved ones.
I understand they caught a drunk driver. But the point of a DUI checkpoint is to catch drunks, not catch unlicensed drivers.
What is wrong with taking unlicensed drivers off the streets? A good majority of hit and run drivers are unlicensed.
Effective Work CHP, Great Job…Wasting Tax Payers Money.
No one should drink and drive anyway.
Nikki and Janet, I think you two need to do your homework. The DUI/License checkpoints constitute a violation of the 5th Amendment to our Constitution which prohibits search and seizure without probable cause. Driving down a particular street on a particular night where the CHP or Sheriff has set up a checkpoint does NOT constitute probable cause to stop you, ask for your papers (driver’s license), or question you in any way.
I know you think it’s worth it, and the government depends on people thinking that way. Violations of civil rights always begin with the idea that “it’s for your protection” and end with your rights simply being taken. I would far rather risk being hit by a drunk driver than have my rights violated by over-zealous cops who are really out there to generate revenue for the city.
What will you do when a few years downs the line you will be required to abide by a list of “prohibited speech” that lists topics you can be arrested for merely by speaking about them ? Of course – this will be for your own “security and protection” too.
How about when the police can enter your home at any hour, day or night, without a warrant, to search for “prohibited materials” ?
How about when certain books are banned to keep you from getting the “wrong ideas” ?
How about when everything you say or write on your phone and the internet is scrutinized by the government ? Oh wait – that is already happening…
So keep on supporting these illegal checkpoints. Keep on answering the cop when he asks “have you been drinking” thereby violating your right to not incriminate yourself.
Keep it up and soon you won’t have any rights to worry about.
msc545, first of all, if you are going to rant about Constitutional rights, get the rights straight. The Fourth Amendment has to do with search and seizure, not the Fifth.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that sobriety checkpoints meet the Fourth Amendment standard of “reasonable search and seizure.” The Court is, by force of Article III of the Constitution itself, the final arbiter and interpreter of the Constitution. We may not agree with what they rule. But what they rule is law until reinterpreted by a later court. We can whine, but they win, not because of a left or right wing conspiracy, but because the Constitution itself says so.
Plus, over the last 20 years, legal restrictions on DUI checkpoints have been getting tighter and tighter, so your slippery slope argument appears to be specious.
And 337 people got their constitutional rights trampled on.
Sounds like the Nazi’s were out violating our Constitutional Rights again. You do realize these check points are illegal right?
You do realize these checkpoints are totally legal, right? So says the US Supreme Court in the Michigan v Sitz ruling.
When people complain about checkpoints, calling them Nazi tactics, they are forgetting one thing. When those regimes “asked for papers,” that meant show me your state-issued internal passport that often said who you were, what job you had, where you were allowed to travel too, what restrictions on your movements had been placed on you, what religion you were. If you were someplace you weren’t supposed to be, you got arrested. At DUI checkpoints, they ask for your drivers license, which you must have to operate the vehicle you are driving. And they check to see if you show signs of impairment. That is vastly different than Nazi “show me your papers,” shows a lack of understanding of history as well as demeans what the people of Germany and Europe went through.
Douglas Arms how are they illegal? I’m curious. Please inform!!
These DUI checkpoints probably save as many lives as the Surgeon General warnings on a box of cigarettes.
King I’m sure that’s your real name HA HA
Whew
Carla, check points for DUI are barely legal but for drivers license checks they are highly unconstitutional.
Wow, some of you people are idiots. That one driver could have killed one of your loved ones. And the two with no license, what were they doing there?SMH
I have the right to be safe on the road. Idiots who drink and drive are the cause of a police state; not the other way around.
Patrols are meant to catch active drunks, get them off the streets and prosecute them. Checkpoints are highly visible, highly publicized events meant to deter drinking and driving in the first place.
Patrols have little deterrent value, but high enforcement value. Checkpoints have been shown to have the potential to lower DUI fatality rates by up to 20 percent by virtue of their deterrence. People go through them, drive past them, hear about them via multiple grapevines and get the ongoing impression that drunk driving is dangerous, socially unacceptable, and that law enforcement is actively looking for it.
They are both good tactics and both should be in the arsenal of DUI combating tactics, along with others. In terms of catching drunks, nothing beats patrols. In terms of saving lives, nothing beats checkpoints.
Alerta Cali
Lol kids still joyride nowadays?
Idiots? So if one check point is okay with you in the name of safety wouldn’t more be safer? Wouldn’t check points every night in multiple locations be the safest? This is a stated goal of a large amount of sherrifs and politicians. Experts agree that DUI check points are not an effective use on man power. At what point will we no longer be free citizens unable to travel without constantly showing papers or asking for permission?
Idiots? So if one check point is okay with you in the name of safety wouldn’t more be safer? Wouldn’t check points every night in multiple locations be the safest? This is a stated goal of a large amount of sherrifs and politicians. Experts agree that DUI check points are not an effective use on man power. At what point will we no longer be free citizens unable to travel without constantly showing papers or asking for permission?
Shane, please show where your “stated goal of a large amount of sherrifs and politicians” statement is backed up by evidence. Please show where a preponderance of “experts” agree that DUI checkpoints are not an effective use of manpower. Actual studies done by NHTSA and the CDC say otherwise. Patrols are most effective at catching drunk drivers. Checkpoints are most effective at keeping people from driving drunk in the first place.
Checkpoints are un-American.
Its sort of funny that u are all bringing up the constitution. And how this violates ur rights. I see you point but go to a zero tolerance state for alcohol and they’re dui’s and traffic related deaths are very low. Appreciate the law enforcement they are the first ones you call when u are in need. One drunk driver or 10 doesn’t make a difference its holding people responsible for the choices, stay home and drink or call a cab its easy. And once u get in a vehicle its considered a weapon. I know I’ve lost many loved ones to drunk drivers
The DUI part is not my issue. It’s that there are now a papers check point also
Shane, at the risk of repeating myself, I will. When the Nazis “asked for papers,” that meant show me your state-issued internal passport that often said who you were, what job you had, where you were allowed to travel too, what restrictions on your movements had been placed on you, what religion you were. If you were someplace you weren’t supposed to be, you got arrested. At DUI checkpoints, they ask for your drivers license, which you must have to operate the vehicle you are driving. And they check to see if you show signs of impairment. That is vastly different than Nazi “show me your papers,” shows a lack of understanding of history as well as demeans what the people of Germany and Europe went through.
The thing of it is, absolutely NOBODY CARES if you think it’s illegal, because your opinion is not going to stop DUI checkpoints from happening.
You seem to not understand how a democratic society is supposed to work. Politics runs off of opinions. People had an opinion, and those opinions became ideas, and those ideas became law. Differing opinions can help to take these laws away. Welcome to democracy.
What a rude comment SCVTV. Yes DUI check points have been found legal many many times. On the other hand departments conducting drivers license check points also have been successfully sued recently. The bad part is the residents of the city are on the hook for paying any settlements. It’s only a matter of time before someone that cares sues our city about the constitutionality of them demanding to see drivers licenses without probable cause.
What a rude comment SCVTV. Yes DUI check points have been found legal many many times. On the other hand departments conducting drivers license check points also have been successfully sued recently. The bad part is the residents of the city are on the hook for paying any settlements. It’s only a matter of time before someone that cares sues our city about the constitutionality of them demanding to see drivers licenses without probable cause.
Shane Weeks they ask for an id and registration and only registration if u have expired tags which is actually completely legal to do , ive been in 3 accidents one was really bad and all three were caused by illegals , so actually it is not breaking any laws, once u are 18 u must carry identification in public even if ur not driving