Drunk driving checkpoints, growing in number all over the U.S., are a real concern to our DUI Attorney.  Chicago, for example, has begun to increase their checkpoints from 1 to 2 per week.  Why?  Simple – they make money.  Check out this story from California.

California Cops Exploit DUI Checkpoints to Bring in Money for Cities, Police

California police are turning DUI checkpoints into profitable operations that are far more likely to seize cars from unlicensed minority motorists than catch drunken drivers.

Berkeley, CA. Feb. 13 – An investigation by the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley with California Watch has found that impounds at checkpoints in 2009 generated an estimated $40 million in towing fees and police fines – revenue that cities divide with towing firms.

Additionally, police officers received about $30 million in overtime pay for the DUI crackdowns, funded by the California Office of Traffic Safety.

$30 Million?  Isn’t California almost broke?  Where is all this money coming from?

With support from groups such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving, California more than doubled its use of sobriety checkpoints the past three years.

Ah yes.  MADD.  Dumping hundreds of thousands of dollars into police agencies to make sure that your Constitutional Right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure is trampled on.  So, has anyone examined how these programs make money?

In the course of its examination, the Investigative Reporting Program reviewed hundreds of pages of city financial records and police reports, and analyzed data documenting the results from every checkpoint that received state funding during the past two years. Among the findings:

• Sobriety checkpoints frequently screen traffic within, or near, Hispanic neighborhoods. Cities where Hispanics represent a majority of the population are seizing cars at three times the rate of cities with small minority populations. In South Gate, a Los Angeles County city where Hispanics make up 92 percent of the population, police confiscated an average of 86 vehicles per operation last fiscal year.

• The seizures appear to defy a 2005 federal appellate court ruling that determined police cannot impound cars solely because the driver is unlicensed. In fact, police across the state have ratcheted up vehicle seizures. Last year, officers impounded more than 24,000 cars and trucks at checkpoints. That total is roughly seven times higher than the 3,200 drunken driving arrests at roadway operations. The percentage of vehicle seizures has increased 53 percent statewide compared to 2007.

• Departments frequently overstaff checkpoints with officers, all earning overtime. The Moreno Valley Police Department in Riverside County averaged 38 officers at each operation last year, six times more than federal guidelines say is required. Nearly 50 other local police and sheriff’s departments averaged 20 or more officers per checkpoint – operations that averaged three DUI arrests a night.

State officials have declared that 2010 will be the “year of the checkpoint.” Police are scheduling 2,500 of the operations in every region of California. Some departments have begun to broaden the definition of sobriety checkpoints to include checking for unlicensed drivers.

The idea that these drunk driving checkpoints make the roads safer has already been proven to be false.  Vehicle forfeitures, fines, tickets, penalties are all about making money.  What is the financial condition of Illinois?  DUI Attorneys are concerned about what might happen here next.

Our DUI Attorneys in Chicago congratulate Wisconsin for passing responsible drunk driving laws.

Wis. gov signs tougher drunken driving law; advocates say state’s penalties still weak

Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle has signed a bill that stiffens the state’s drunken driving laws, despite questions about whether it does too little.

The law signed Tuesday makes a fourth offense drunken driving a felony if it occurs within five years of the previous offense. A first offense will be a misdemeanor if someone younger than 16 is in the car. Repeat offenders and first-timers with high blood alcohol contents must get ignition interlocks.

The new penalties take effect July 1.

But two of the toughest changes advocates wanted weren’t included: making all first offenses a crime and legalizing roadside sobriety checkpoints.

Sobriety checkpoints a/k/a DUI checkpoints are nothing more than an out-right hijacking of our 4th Amendment.  Congratulations to the Wisconsin Legislature in their approach to drunk driving enforcement.

Our Chicago DUI Attorneys have long argued that the results of breathalyzers are flawed.  Now, more proof that the machines should not be relied on to convict anyone.

Audit : Number of inflated DUI tests has doubled

JOHN C. ENSSLIN

The number of flawed blood alcohol tests has doubled since a Colorado Springs Police Crime Lab internal audit last year discovered that some results were inflated, authorities said last week.

Results in 167 DUI cases have been called into question, up from the initial 82 that were disclosed in December, according to 4th Judicial District Senior Deputy District Attorney Frederick Stein.

On Dec. 11, the police department reported that a routine audit had discovered the errors and began both an internal and external investigation into how reported test results came in higher than the actual level.

At the time, the department started re-testing about 1,000 blood alcohol test results taken since January 2009.

Did the audit mention how many people were wrongly convicted based on these faulty machines?

“I can’t say anything definitive about the underlying cause,” Whitlock said. “What has occurred is that we’ve narrowed it down to the point where we believe it is likely a human error. We believe very strongly that it’s not an equipment failure or something inherent in the lab itself.”

Oh, of course.  Human error.  In other words, “it’s not that the machines are faulty, if that’s what you think”.

Our Chicago DUI Lawyers caution everyone headed out to SuperBowl parties to be responsible because, along with the NFL Championship, this weekend your Constitutional Rights are up for grabs as well.

Police to enforce ‘no refusal’ law for Super Bowl DUI crackdown

BLOOMINGTON — Police will be on the lookout for drivers who have had too much to drink on Super Bowl Sunday.

“Under Illinois law, there is no right to refuse a blood alcohol test if you have been arrested for DUI,” said McLean County State’s Attorney Bill Yoder, who announced the “no refusal” weekend.

“No right to refuse a test”?  Are we living in some police state?  What are they going to do if someone refuses?

Police will contact an assistant state’s attorney to obtain a search warrant authorizing them to draw blood from anyone arrested for DUI who refuses to submit to a breath test when ordered to do so.

What kind of Country do we live in in which the police belive that it is ok to jam needles into people who are SUSPECTED of a crime? A suspected murder has more rights than a suspected drunk driver.

Once again, from the absurd DUI arrests department…….

Man on bicycle charged with DUI

NAPLES, Fla. — A Tampa man riding a bicycle was charged with driving under the influence after Collier County stopped him in East Naples.

The sheriff’s office reports that 51-year-old Tommy Charles Miller was riding a bike Saturday night without any lights. When deputies stopped him, they reported that his eyes appeared bloodshot, and he smelled like alcohol. Deputies also found two cans of beer in the bike’s front basket.

Miller was arrested and charged with DUI, refusing to submit to a DUI test, having an open alcohol container in public and refusing to sign a citation. He was being held on $7,000 bail.

$7,000.00 bond?  For drinking and riding a bicycle?  Really?  Kudos to all involved in making our roads safer, I guess.

Our Chicago DUI Lawyers never ceased to be amazed as to what groups like MADD can turn our Country into…

Man On Golf Cart Arrested For Drunk Driving

by Jamie Burch

BONIFAY, Florida – Drinking and golf might mix. But drinking and driving don’t, even if you’re driving a golf cart.

Florida State Troopers were on the scene of a fatal accident on County Road 177 Tuesday afternoon when Jerry Ogburn drove up on a golf cart just to look at the crash.” That’s not against the law. But driving under the influence is.

Ogburn was arrested for DUI and booked into the Holmes County Jail. Troopers say it’s not his first DUI arrest.

Because of Ogburn’s drunk driving history, his golf cart was supposed to have an ignition interlock device which would prevent him from starting it if he’d been drinking.

Really? An interlock ignition device (Breathalyzer) on a golf cart?  Chalk up another victory for MADD, I guess.

Our Chicago DUI Lawyers have had many a case with Officer Fiorito involved as the arresting officer, so we were happy to hear of the investigation into the allegations that he falsified his drunk driving arrests.  Today’s news, however, was a slap in the face to every innocent person that was allegedly railroaded by this officer.

No criminal charges for cop accused of fake DUI arrests

- Kevin Roy

February 2, 2010 (CHICAGO) (WLS) — A Chicago police officer who was taken off the streets after being accused of making false DUI arrests will not face criminal charges.

ABC7 has learned that Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez has decided not to press any criminal charges against Chicago police officer Richard Fiorito. Her decision comes after a nearly year-long investigation by her office into allegations that he was making hundreds of phony DUI arrests.

Note that all the people that Fiorito helped to convict will get no such relief.  And the State’s Attorney’s Office is STILL prosecuting people that Fiorito pulled over!

To his accusers, dash-cam video scenes taken from inside Officer Richard Fiorito’s own squad car made it an open and shut case. In his police report, Fiorito wrote that one driver was swerving and nearly hitting parked cars. Attorneys representing nearly 40 people who say Fiorito trumped up charges against them say it shows exactly the opposite.

But on Monday night, Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez’s office has ended its criminal investigation and has decided that no charges will be charged against Officer Fiorito.

“Based upon that investigation, it was determined that there were a number of inconsistencies. A number of the witnesses had severe credibility issues. And it was ultimately determined we wouldn’t be able to meet our burden which in a criminal case is beyond a reasonable doubt,” said Dan Kirk, Alvarez’ chief of staff.

40 people state that this cop made up allegations to justify DUI arrests and the State’s Attorney’s office says that they have “severe credibility issues”.  40 people?

What about the tape that shows a car driving down the center of a road and Fiorito’s report that the same car was weaving and almost hit parked cars?  Clearly Anita Alverez has her own interests in mind and not those of the people she is supposed to protect.  Keep this in mind come election day, folks.