Marin DUI Lawyer Blog

The San Rafael Police Department will be conducting a DUI checkpoint tonight, from 6:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. on westbound Manuel T. Freitas Parkway at Las Gallinas Avenue.

San Rafael Police believe that DUI Checkpoints, along with regularly scheduled high visibility DUI enforcement, are proven strategies with the goal of removing impaired drivers from the Marin County roadways. Police agencies throughout Marin County, the Marin Avoid the 13 multi agency DUI task force, and throughout the San Francisco Bay Area hold DUI checkpoints to deter DUI drivers and to keep unlicensed drivers off the streets.

Continue reading "MARIN COUNTY DUI CHECKPOINT TONIGHT IN SAN RAFAEL" »

The Marin County Avoid the 13 DUI task force has received funds for the next year, its 11th, to continue its battle against drunk driving. The money was awarded by the a California Office of Traffic Safety directly to the San Rafael Police Department, which will administer the one-year grant for the entire county.

Marin County DUI Police Officers will use the newly awarded funds to run DUI and driver's license checkpoints, drunk driving saturation patrols and courthouse stings. The 13 Marin County Police Departments involved in the Avoid the 13 campaign will also target repeat offenders and scofflaws by conducting warrant and probation sweeps.

DUI and Driver's License Checkpoints aimed at deterring people from driving impaired and driving while unlicensed, have become commonplace in recent years. Although these checkpoints amount to a warrantless intrusion and their effectiveness can be questioned, the courts have ruled that 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.

Drivers in Marin County can expect to see DUI campaigns during the upcoming Thanksgiving weekend and Christmas holiday season as well as on Super Bowl Sunday, St. Patrick's Day, and Cinco de Mayo. Traditionally those holidays see and increase in DUIs.

Continue reading "San Rafael Police Get Grant to Administer Marin County DUI Campaign" »

Motorist in the City of Vallejo will likely come across more drunk driving checkpoints and DUI saturation patrols will be increasing in Vallejo in the near future. The California Office of Traffic Safety has awarded a grant of $172,700 to the Vallejo Police Department in order to target driving under the influence offenses.

The grant money will also be used for warrant searches, DUI stakeouts for repeat offenders, and courthouse stings where officers wait outside for convicted drunk drivers with suspended or revoked drivers licenses who drive away from court.

Drunk driving cases in Solano County are prosecuted in the Superior Courthouses, located in Vallejo and Fairfield. Which Courthouse a case goes to depends on whether the DUI arrest was made in the Northern or Southern part of the County. Typically drunk driving cases originating in Vallejo and Benicia are handled in Department 24 of the Vallejo Courthouse while cases stemming from arrests in Vacaville, Dixon, Rio Vista and Fairfield begin in Department 21 of the Fairfield Court.

Continue reading "Vallejo Police To Bolster DUI Enforcement With New Grant Money" »

Fourteen Police Officers from the San Rafael, San Anselmo, Novato and Tiburon Police Departments working DUI enforcement over the Halloween weekend arrested one driver on suspicion of drunk driving. In all, officers acting as part of the Marin Avoid the 13 DUI enforcement operation funded by the California Office of Traffic Safety made 137 DUI traffic stops and administered field sobriety tests to 18 drivers.

The San Rafael Police Department said that the success of the Halloween 2011 drunk driving enforcement can be measured in the fact that there were no major alcohol related injuries deaths in Marin during the weekend.

Driving under the influence enforcement operations will continue with the Marin Avoid the 13 in November and December through the 2011 Holiday season. Those operations will likely include DUI saturation patrols and drunk driving/driver's license checkpoints.

Continue reading "Marin County Halloween DUI Crackdown Nets One Arrest" »

The San Rafael Police Department and the twelve other Marin County police agencies comprising the Marin Avoid the 13 DUI Task force will be joining a nationwide effort called "Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over" aimed at cracking down on DUIs through the Labor Day Holiday. As part of this effort to stop drunk driving the SRPD will be conducting DUI checkpoints on Thursday, September 1 and Friday, September 2, 2011, from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. on both nights. The location of the checkpoints has not been announced.

In addition to next weeks drunk driving checkpoints in San Rafael the Avoid the 13 will be running a DUI/driver's license checkpoint in San Anselmo on Saturday, August 27, 2011 from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. Sunday, August 28, 2011. Also, there will be a drunk driving and driver's license checkpoint on Sept. 3 in Novato and the Avoid the 13 will be running roving DUI patrols throughout Marin County from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. on various nights.

While driving under the influence checkpoints are aimed at deterring drunk driving and keeping unlicensed drivers off our roads, they have been subject to recent scrutiny for being held in areas with high populations of illegal immigrants as undocumented residents cannot obtain driver's licenses in California. However, despite some public backlash against the use of checkpoints, the courts have ruled that they 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.

Continue reading "San Rafael Police Among Marin County Agencies Involved In National DUI Crackdown" »

San Rafael Police Officers have scheduled a drunk driving and driver's license checkpoint for Friday, August 12, 2011, starting at 6:00. The San Rafael Police spokeswoman indicates that the DUI checkpoint will held on Southbound Grand Ave. at East Francisco Boulevard and may later move to Eastbound Bellam Blvd. at Castro Street.

Once again the San Rafael Police are targeting drunk drivers and unlicensed driver's in the Canal area. There has been backlash in recent years over checkpoints in the Canal and other areas with high populations of undocumented immigrants due to the fact that people without social security numbers cannot obtain a driver's license in California. However, the San Rafael Police Department indicates that they chose the location in the Canal area due to a high number of DUI related accidents, 55% of all drunk driver related accidents in San Rafael so far in 2011.

Friday night's DUI checkpoint will be funded by the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Continue reading "DUI checkpoint planed in San Rafael this Friday, August 12, 2011" »

The City of San Rafael Police Department will be holding a DUI checkpoint tonight, from 6:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. The checkpoint will be conducted on East Francisco Boulevard at Morphew Street in both directions.

Police departments throughout Marin County and the San Francisco Bay Area run DUI checkpoints in an effort to deter DUI drivers and to keep unlicensed drivers off the streets. Drunk driving 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.

Friday night's DUI checkpoint will be funded by the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Continue reading "San Rafael DUI Checkpoint Tonight, July 22, 2011" »

Police in Petaluma, Sonoma County, stopped approximately 900 cars at multiple DUI checkpoints set up throughout that city on Saturday night. Of those 900 drivers only one was arrested for driving under the influence.

Police officers detained a total of twenty-four drivers for further questioning. One of those drivers was arrested for an outstanding DUI warrant and two drivers were arrested for d driving without a license.

Drunk driving checkpoints aimed at deterring people from driving impaired and driving while unlicensed, have become commonplace in recent years. Although these checkpoints amount to a warrantless intrusion and their effectiveness can be questioned, the courts have ruled that 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.

Additional DUI and driver's license checkpoints are planned throughout the remainder of the year to raise awareness of impaired driving in Petaluma and Sonoma County.

Continue reading "Petaluma DUI Checkpoint nets Four " »

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.

Continue reading "Vallejo DUI Checkpoint Tonight and Saturday " »

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" »

The San Rafael police department will be running a state funded drunk driving and driver's license checkpoint tonight beginning at 6:00 p.m. and ending at 2:00 a.m. on New Year's Eve. The DUI Checkpoint will be conducted in connection the Marin Avoid the 13 DUI campaign.

San Rafael police officers said that the checkpoint will start on A Street and Andersen Drive and may later move to Irwin Street and Fifth Avenue. DUI Checkpoints have been a common sight in Marin County during 2010 as officers throughout California seek to crack down on drunk driving and to get unlicensed driver's off the roads.

Driver's suspected of being under the influence will be asked to pull over for further investigation and may be asked to submit to field sobriety testing. Submission to field sobriety testing and/or a PAS breath testing device is voluntary and not required under California Law. However, if a police officer has cause to arrest a person for DUI they must submit to a chemical test to determine their blood alcohol concentration. Refusal to take a chemical test can result in a drivers license suspension for one year on a first offense or a two or three year license revocation on a second or third offense.

Continue reading "Marin County DUI Checkpoint in San Rafael Tonight" »

The Oakland Police Department announced this week that they have received a grant ffrom the California Office of Traffic Safety that will fund their pursuit of drunk drivers for the next year. Oakland police Lt. Sharon Williams said that the yearlong anti-DUI program received a grant of $240,000.

The Oakland Police will be using their new DUI funds to conduct driver's license and drunk driving checkpoints, DUI warrant sweeps and driving under the influence saturation patrols during periods of high incidence drunken driving. Police Officers will also be conducing court stings, where they will follow DUI drivers with suspended licenses out of the courtroom and stop them if they are seen driving away from the courthouse.

In California a first offense DUI is a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail. Further, a first time convicted drunk driver will have to attend a DUI program varying in length from three to nine months and may have their driving privilege suspended for 6 months or restricted for up to ten months depending on their blood alcohol level.

Also, Alameda County is one of four pilot counties in California that require the installation of an ignition interlock device for all DUI convictions including first offenses.

Continue reading "Alameda County Oakland Police get DUI funding for 2011" »

Using funds from a grant provided by the California Office of Traffic Safety, the Santa Rosa Police Department will be buying new equipment and instituting special traffic enforcement measures in and effort to save lives and prevent traffic related injuries.

The Santa Rosa Police Department will use funds from the Selective Traffic Enforcement Program (STEP) grant to assist in efforts to deal with traffic safety problems and to purchase LIDAR (laser speed monitoring devices), Preliminary Alcohol Screening (PAS) devices, educational materials and to pay for Police Officer overtime for officers working special enforcement activities like DUI Checkpoints. DUI offenders and drivers with suspended or revoked licenses will be targeted through the use of DUI/driver's license checkpoints, Drunk Driving saturation patrols, and court stings where driver's with suspended or revoked driver's licenses who drive away from the Sonoma County Courthouse are immediately pulled over.

The use of LIDAR devices has become commonplace in California, replacing the use of Radar guns by many police officers including most CHP officers. However, the use of LIDAR has not been generally accepted in the scientific community as a valid method for detecting the speed of moving vehicles. Further, although most traffic court commissioners and judges routinely allow LIDAR evidence to be introduced by police officers at traffic court trials, there is not a single California Court case approving of LIDAR devices. It would appear that most courts allow LIDAR evidence because most people do not fight traffic tickets with an attorney who would object and attempt to exclude the LIDAR readings.

Continue reading "Santa Rosa Police to Expand Traffic and DUI Enforcement" »

The San Rafael Police Department will be conducting a DUI and driver's license checkpoint this Friday from 6 p.m. until 2 a.m. on Saturday, August 7, 2010. The location of the checkpoint has not been disclosed.

This weekend's checkpoint will be funded by a DUI mini grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The last checkpoint conducted under the same grant in San Rafael on July 23, 2010 resulted in 17 drivers submitting to field sobriety tests but no drivers were arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence.

Submission to field sobriety testing and/or a PAS breath testing device is voluntary and not required under California Law. However, if a police officer has cause to arrest a person for DUI they must submit to a chemical test to determine their blood alcohol concentration. Refusal to take a chemical test can result in a drivers license suspension for one year on a first offense or a two or three year license revocation on a second or third offense.

Continue reading "DUI Checkpoint in San Rafael set for this Friday" »

The California Highway Patrol and the state's Office of Traffic Safety (OTS), have named Alameda County's multi jurisdictional DUI enforcement campaign the best in the state. The driving under the influence campaign, "Avoid the 21", involves police departments from the cities of Pleasanton, Livermore, the CHP and municipalities throughout Alameda County.

Police officers in Alameda County made 897 arrests for driving under the influence during a 17-day enforcement effort at the end of 2009. Only Los Angeles County, which had 2,622 drunk driving arrests had more during the same DUI campaign.

This year officers will be running their DUI campaign over the Fourth of July weekend beginning on Friday, July 2, 2010, and ending at midnight on Monday, July 5, 2010. As part of the effort to reduce traffic accidents and get drunk drivers off the roads, the city of Fremont Police Department will be conducting a sobriety checkpoint from 6 p.m. on July 3, 2010 to 3 a.m. on July 4th.

Continue reading "Alameda County DUI crackdown program named best in California for 2009" »