Why Do Police Announce When and Where DUI Checkpoints Will Be?

If sobriety checkpoints are supposed to catch drunk drivers off guard, why do police announce where and when they will be? This is to protect the individual's constitutional rights. Many people argue that DUI checkpoints violate a person's Fourth Amendment right to be free from unlawful searches and seizures – how can a person be lawfully stopped by police if there is no probable cause or reasonable suspicion that they committed an offense?

The answer is, by holding DUI checkpoints at a place and time specified beforehand.

In some cases, police will specify the exact time down to the hour. In other cases, police will simply say "during the evening and early morning hours of…" The same goes for the location. For some checkpoints, police will announce the exact street and cross street while for other sobriety checkpoints, police will simply say "On Main Street."

The benefits of announcing the location and time of DUI checkpoints is twofold. It not only protects the individual's rights (you do not have to drive during the specified time or on the specified road), but it also prevents inebriated people from driving for fear of getting stopped at a DUI checkpoint.

What happens at DUI checkpoints often toes the constitutional line. If you were arrested at a checkpoint and you believe you were wrongfully detained, questioned, or arrested, please contact an Orange County DUI lawyer at Gold & Witham today.