Drunk-Driving Checks Staged Despite Ruling

The California Highway Patrol set up a roadside sobriety checkpoint Friday night--the first since the state’s 4th District Court of Appeal ruled Sept. 19 that such checkpoints are unconstitutional.

Lt. Joe Phillips said the CHP will continue to conduct sobriety checkpoints on a routine basis, about once a month, until the state Supreme Court rules on the issue. The high court is hearing an appeal on a 1st District Court of Appeal ruling in December that checkpoints are constitutional and do not infringe on a person’s right to privacy.

This contradicts the decision reached by the 4th District court, which has jurisdiction over San Diego.

“What the state Supreme Court rules in regard to the appeal of the 1st District Court of Appeal decision will be the deciding factor on this issue,” Phillips said. “However, it’s hard to say when they’ll get around to ruling on that case. Meanwhile, we feel we are on proper and safe ground if we strictly adhere to the guidelines for sobriety checkpoints set up by the state attorney general’s office.”

Those guidelines include that sobriety checkpoints should be safe for motorists and well-lighted; the location of the site should be random; officers should not delay vehicles for more than three minutes, and that 48-hour advance notice of the date and general location of the checkpoint should be given to the media, Phillips said.

“We are not there to infringe on people’s rights,” Phillips said. “We only take them out of the line if they display less-than-normal physical movements, odd behavior, or the odor of alcohol is present. This is an effective way of dealing with the drunk driving problem and we will continue to use it.”

The California Highway Patrol has stopped 8,683 drivers at sobriety checkpoints in San Diego County since Jan. 1. Officers gave field sobriety tests to 135 of these drivers and arrested 49 for driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.