Checkpoints Catch More Than Drunk Drivers

State officials have declared that 2010 is the “Year of the Checkpoint.” Police agencies are scheduling 2,500 checkpoints throughout California and some departments routinely include checking for unlicensed drivers. Sobriety checkpoints in California are becoming increasingly profitable for police departments, an investigation by the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley with California Watch found that impounds at checkpoints in 2009 generated an estimated $40 million in towing fees and police fines. In addition, police officers received about $30 million in overtime pay for the DUI crackdowns, which are funded by the California Office of Traffic Safety. The Investigative Reporting Program also found that officers impounded more than 24,000 vehicles at checkpoints with only 3,200 drunken driving arrests. Last year, the LAPD on average assigned 35 police officers to each checkpoint and averaged 6 DUI arrests and impounded 20 to 30 vehicles. Most of the roadblocks over the past two years occurred in or near Hispanic neighborhoods, the Investigative Reporting Program’s analysis shows. Sixty-one percent of the checkpoints occurred in locations with at least a 31 percent Hispanic population.
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