1. Check points must be placed in a location where they can be seen by you, in advance of the chek point.
2. You are not required to enter a check point.
3. You may turn off at a legal cross street, or make a legal u-turn before the check point.
4. You should not have to wait more then thirty seconds to a few minutes. Any longer can cause undue alarm to the motorist.
5. You to not have to tell the police officer that you were drinking.
6. Check points should be advertised to the bublic (as seen on local
news stations). Click the DUIATTORNEY link above for the most recent
list of checkpoints, where, and when (if available).
State rules checkpoints constitutional measure
Some officials doubted the law would pass questions of probable cause.
By Alex Weininger
Collegian Staff Writer
Sobriety checkpoints throughout the commonwealth were ruled constitutional this week by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in a 4-3 vote.
The ruling permits local police to continue their efforts against people who drive under the influence.
Detective John Conti, Coordinator for the Centre County Alcohol Task Force & the Sobriety Checkpoint Program, said that the program will assist Centre County police in keeping drunk drivers off the road.
"Anyone who drives on our highways should be elated by this," Conti said.
The decision was long-awaited and well-received by law enforcement throughout Centre County, including District Attorney Ray Gricar, who said he was "pleasantly surprised" by the ruling.
Gricar said the liberal reputation of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court led him to believe that the ruling could have been against the sobriety checkpoint establishment.
Gricar said the constitutionality of sobriety checkpoints was in question because of potential lack in probable cause.
In the state of Pennsylvania, police need probable cause before stopping a vehicle. Probable cause is a proof or fact that would lead a reasonable person to believe both a crime was committed and a person or premise has evidence of that crime.
"They (the checkpoints) allow vehicles to be stopped without a probable cause," Gricar said.
The Centre County Alcohol Task Force involved in enforcing the checks is comprised of volunteer police officers from State College, Bellefonte, Ferguson Township, Patton Township, Spring Township and the Centre County Sheriff's Office.
During the field sobriety tests, drivers encounter a variety of different tests to find out if the person is suitable to drive. If the person fails the test, the officer in charge decides whether charges should be filed or whether another person in the vehicle can drive instead.
The checkpoints are labor-intensive, needing 20 to 25 officers at one point. However, Conti said that although the county is only running one at a time, an October grant from PennDOT permits future plans to include having more of them at one time.
"We want to give the illusion that we're everywhere, so we may have more of them or take down the checkpoints we have and set them up in different places," Conti said.
Although the checkpoints need substantial financing as well as officers willing to volunteer, Conti said having the checkpoints could mean the difference between saving a life and losing one.
"The number of DUIs have been decreasing over the years. A few years ago we would encounter six to eight DUIs a night on average . . . the average last year was four to five," Conti said.
Sgt. John Wilson, community relations director for State College police, said he was afraid the court would rule the checks unlawful, but he is thankful that Pennsylvania law enforcement is permitted to use one more tool toward DUI prevention.
"I've personally been involved in a lot of checkpoints. We've encountered hundreds and thousands of people (who are driving while intoxicated) through that," Wilson said.
Centre County not only uses sobriety checkpoints to cut down on people
getting behind the wheel while intoxicated, but also has a program called
Cops in Shops that places undercover officers near or working inside establishments
that sell alcohol.
How the officers get around these items? Simple: They will place a check point sign about a quarter mile before the actual check-point, after any legal way for you to turn around, or exit if on a highway. There have been cases where, if you were seen turning off or making a u-turn, you were chased down (automatically guilty for avoiding the check point). This is not really legal, so you have a good chance of beating it in court.
As far as not having to enter a checck point? If there is no way to turn around, you have to enter. It is was not made clear to me if you can outright refuse to enter the checkpoint, and avoid being chased down or followed by another officer. The best way yo "test" this is to NOT be intoxicated, and refuse to enter the check point - saying you are NOT required by PA LAW to do so, and see what happens.
A Fourth Amendment "seizure" occurs when a vehicle is stopped at a checkpoint. Thus, the question here is whether such seizures are "reasonable.", under "Illegal search and seizure." laws.
During a 75-minute duration of a checkpoint's operation (For Example:
Some county in Texas), 126 vehicles passed through the checkpoint. The
average delay for each vehicle was approximately 25 seconds. Two drivers
were detained for field sobriety testing, and one of the two was arrested
for driving under the influence of alcohol. A third driver who drove through
without stopping was pulled over by an officer in an observation vehicle
and arrested for driving under the influence.
"`These [Fourth Amendment rights], I protest, are not mere second-class
rights but belong in the catalog of indispensable freedoms. Among deprivations
of rights, none is so effective in cowing a population, crushing the spirit
of the individual and putting terror in every heart. Uncontrolled search
and seizure is one of the first and most effective weapons in the arsenal
of every arbitrary government.'
You can still speculate that any DUI motorist is a danger to others, and that is just not the case at all. When you have been out drinking for 25 years, once a week, then all of the sudden get caught, NOT because you were all over the road, but at a CHECK POINT, then you will change your mind.
I have not been caught, but know people who have been arrested at a
check point, when they have been doing it for 20 or more years. Even
I stop drinking at about 1AM, so I am ok to drive home. By the time
2:30AM rolls around, I am more tired than anything, and take my time getting
home, obey all traffic rules, and get home safe. I would be quite
pissed off to get caught at a check point just entering my home-town, or
just a few miles away, or because the original road was closed and had
to make a detour INTO a check point.
What the law firm should allow next is for the officers to place a SIGN by your vehicle, warning other passing motorists. Heck, or even take your keys off you and make you go to the police station to get them, as a precaution. Anything but arrest you unless you were CAUGHT while driving wrecklessly because of your intoxication.
States lower their limits all the time. PA went from a .010 to a .008, that's ONE DRINK, period! It used to be one drink an hour, you were ok. Not anymore! They want you off the roads no matter what! There are laws on the books about wreckless driving that allows the officer to arrest you for THAT alone, so why make NEW DUI and CELL PHONE laws for the same reason? Simple: Money and Statistics.
All they need to do is ENFORCE the laws already made, but that's just too dam simple for them. Making new laws is not the answer, and it never has been, and never will be.
Enforce the laws already in place.