Marin DUI Lawyer Blog

The Vallejo Police Department will be conducting a DUI crackdown tonight and Saturday, February 5, 2011, to keep drunk drivers of the street, police said. The location of Friday night's checkpoint has not been disclosed. Officers will be screening motorist to ensure they are not driving while impaired from 6 to 11 p.m.

Vallejo Police Corporal Kevin Hamrick said that officers will also be conducting a DUI saturation patrol across the city on Super Bowl Sunday along with the Solano County Sheriff's Office.

Suspended license and DUI checkpoints are a common sight in Solano County and throughout California. Recent studies, including one at the University of California Berkeley, have found that these Drunk Driving checkpoints have become extremely profitable for local municipalities as they are far more likely to seize cars from unlicensed motorists than catch drunken drivers.

In Solano County ten Police agencies participate in the AVOID THE SOLANO 10 CAMPAIGN, a program funded by a grant from the State of California Office of Traffic Safety. Participating police departments use state funds to conduct DUI checkpoints and DUI saturation patrols in each of the cities in Solano County.

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The City of San Rafael Police Department will conduct a checkpoint this Friday, February 4, 2011, beginning at 6:00 p.m. Officers acting under a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety will start the DUI and driver's license checkpoint on on East Francisco Boulevard at Morphew Place, operating in both directions. The drunk driving checkpoint may relocate later in the evening to the northbound Irwin Street at Fifth Avenue.

Checkpoints aimed at deterring drunk driving and keeping unlicensed drivers off our roads have become commonplace in the last several years. The courts have ruled that these checkpoints are legal provided that the police follow guidelines including the giving of advance notice to motorists, the use of proper warning signs and lighting and a neutral based formula for stopping cars.

However, driver license checkpoints have come under scrutiny in recent months as many people believe they target low income and immigrant neighborhoods with many illegal residents. In California an illegal immigrant cannot obtain a driver's license.

Friday night's DUI checkpoint will take place in a mainly industrial area near the Richmond/San Rafael Bridge.

Continue reading "Marin County DUI Checkpoint in San Rafael this Friday" »