5 Arrested at CHP’s Sobriety Checkpoint

The California Highway Patrol arrested five people on suspicion of drunk driving in Spring Valley this weekend at the state’s first sobriety checkpoint in San Diego County.

Officers stopped 725 vehicles from 10 p.m. Friday to 2 a.m. Saturday at a roadblock set up in the 900 block of Sweetwater Road. Fifteen drivers were pulled off the road and given field sobriety tests.

James Christison, one of 11 CHP officers who worked the checkpoint, said the operation went smoothly, with no opposition from drivers who were randomly stopped for a quick 30-second inspection.

“We didn’t have any problems,” Christison said. “I didn’t have a single negative remark in all the contacts I made.”

Christison added that many drivers told officers that they were glad to see them making the periodic checks.

The exact location of the checkpoint was not disclosed until one hour before the roadblock was set up. The roadblock is part of a statewide program that has been tested in Sacramento and Bakersfield.

The CHP’s San Diego office plans to conduct a similar operation in the South Bay before the end of the month, according to Officer Steve Vail.

The checkpoints are designed to remind motorists that if they drink and drive they risk being arrested and receiving a $1,000 fine and a 90-day suspension of their driver’s license for a first offense. Officers distributed pamphlets to drivers who passed through the inspection.

CHP officials credit the program for a 19% drop in accidents involving drunk drivers in Sacramento, said Kent Milton, CHP public affairs officer. But they are puzzled at an increase in alcohol-related accidents that followed the use of checkpoints in Bakersfield. Milton said an expansion of the program will help the CHP learn why the program works in some areas and not in others.

CHP officers in San Diego arrest an average of 10 drunken drivers per night. While officers arrested five people at the checkpoint late Friday and early Saturday, other CHP patrols were busy bringing about two dozen drunk driving suspects to San Diego County Jail.