Weekly Checkpoints for Drunk Drivers in Valley Fail, Will Be Dropped

Los Angeles police will abandon their weekly drunk-driving checkpoints in the San Fernando Valley after Friday because the four-month old experiment is not working--and accidents and fatalities have actually increased--authorities said.

The valley was the only area in Los Angeles where police set up roadblocks once a week, usually on Friday nights, to snare drunk drivers. But Police Sgt. Dennis Zine said alcohol-related traffic fatalities in the valley from New Year’s Eve through the end of April jumped 230% over the corresponding time last year.

Although the weekly roadblocks will end, traffic officers will set up occasional sobriety checkpoints in the valley, just as they do in other areas of the city, police said.

Checkpoints Once a Month

In West Los Angeles for example, traffic officers set up sobriety checkpoints about once each month, Sgt. Tony Morgan said. At their last roadblock in Hollywood on May 9, police made 48 arrests in a six-hour period, according to Morgan, who said the program has helped raise awareness about the dangers of drunk driving.

Operating the roadblocks in the valley has required at least 30 officers each week, said Zine, who helped institute the checkpoints.

“Throwing that much manpower and resources at one location just doesn’t cut it,” he said. “You got to get the best for your buck and, simply put, we’re not.”

Statistics for the valley showed that drunk-driving arrests decreased from 2,215 last year to 1,625 for the same period this year, Zine said. There were three alcohol-related traffic deaths last year compared to 10 this year, and 53 major injuries caused by drunk driving compared to 66 this year, Zine said.

Lack of Publicity Blamed

He blamed the demise of the four-month-old strategy partly on the lack of publicity. “We thought we’d get more publicity, and we thought that would help deter drunk drivers,” Zine said. “But we’re not getting the ink, and people aren’t paying attention.”

Police have been setting up checkpoints along busy valley thoroughfares from about 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. and changing the location every week. Officers usually arrest 15 to 20 drunk drivers during a roadblock’s operation, although 85 were arrested at one roadblock in January.

The checkpoint set up two nights ago in Woodland Hills netted another 15 drunk drivers among the 1,400 who were stopped between 9:30 p.m. and 2:15 a.m., Sgt. Joe Cross said.

Although the weekly practice will stop after the Memorial Day Weekend, police will revert to the occasional checkpoint. They also can employ a more traditional method of keeping drunk drivers off the street: flooding a given community with up to a dozen patrol cars.