The Concord Police Department Traffic Unit will be conducting a DUI/Drivers License checkpoint on Saturday February 25th at Concord Avenue near Market Street between the hours of 9:30pm and 3:30am.
The following information is from the Concord Police Department:
Checkpoints are placed in locations that have the greatest opportunity for achieving drunk and drugged driving deterrence and provide the greatest safety for officers and the public.
Officers will be contacting drivers passing through the checkpoint looking for signs of alcohol and/or drug impairment. Drivers caught driving impaired can expect jail, license suspension, and insurance increases, as well as fines, fees, DUI classes, court probation and other expenses that can exceed $10,000.
All too often, members of our community are senselessly injured or killed on local roadways by impaired drivers. “Over the course of the past year, DUI collisions have claimed 4 lives and resulted in 55 wrecks injuring 46 of our friends and neighbors in Concord,” said Traffic Sergeant John Nunes.
This DUI/Drivers License checkpoint is an effort to reduce those tragedies and officers will be checking drivers for proper licensing. A major component of these checkpoints is the deterrent effect it has on those who might drive drunk or drugged impaired and bring about more awareness, encouraging everyone to use sober designated drivers.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), checkpoints have provided the most effective documented results of any of the DUI enforcement strategies, while also yielding considerable cost savings of $6 for every $1 spent.
Funding for this operation is provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Report Drunk Drivers. Call 911!
{ 38 comments }
I think it should be a surprise! Don’t tell people when a checkpoint will be.
Glad to know. I’ll avoid that like the swine flu. and I don’t even drink.
Oh thank goodness…when I drive home wasted my route passes right by there on the freeway. No worries then.
Check the thugs who look like wussies for guns!
Can’t hide it, its considered entrapment.
I wish they would do it EVERY weekend. How about on Treat or YVR??
@If it was me…- It ain’t about busting drunk drivers. It’s about letting people know that the cops are out there looking for drunk drivers. It’s about reminding people not to do it.
Thanks. Good looking out.
It’s like sitting and waiting for cops to eat doughnuts and coffee,. Shouldn’t they be out getting rid of Gangs in Concord?????????
yo mayor the girl who fell off the highway recently was drunk
so u may wanna up that total
Having these checkpoints are a very good idea. But I agree, why isn’t it a surprise? I would think that you would catch maybe another 10-20% of violators.
We should just have checkpoints in between every city boundary where we must present our papers.
Googlar at #12 ~ ~ ~ Wie bitte?
Get the tow trucks ready
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Roving patrols (the day to day job of a police officer) will net more drunks/uninsured/unlicensed drivers than 6 hours of this nonsense. What a waste.
Its to bad they don’t have a test for the boligerant and emotionally unstable drivers who are just as dangerous and I wish there was a way to check if drivers had been illegally talking or texting on their cell phones.
Before more people complain that DUI checkpoints shouldnt be advertised when and where, note that the Police have to notify the public because of the 4th Amendment.
*I’ll spare you from checking google. It’s Unreasonable Search and Seizure*
I agree that patrolling is a much better way to catch DUI drivers AND texting drivers.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/31545004/Texting_And_Driving_Worse_Than_Drinking_and_Driving
http://www.ots.ca.gov/OTS_and_Traffic_Safety/Report_Card.asp
Texting is at least as dangerous, and often more dangerous than DUI driving. DUI is DECREASING while Districted Driving continues to INCREASE at an explosive rate (doubled in the last decade). Education and stiffer penalties (similar to DUI penalties), and POLICE ATTENTION to this problem is necessary. Cell phone use (both texting and phone calls) are both listed as the biggest actual and perceived threat in accidents involving distracted driving. It took a long time for states to really implement no-tolerance laws for DUI. I hope it doesn’t take that long to do that for distracted driving.
It’s sad that people in this day and age still drive drunk. With all the information and statistics out there, you’d think people would be smarter than to drive drunk. But then again there are still many idiots there and alcoholics who need treatment…….
anono #18 – A few months ago, my mom was involved in a T-bone with a double rollover from a young 20-something girl texting and running a red light. There were no skidmarks from her car and she was doing 55 mph. Luckily she hit the passenger side of my moms car and airbags popped out all over the place (brand new Mazda 3). Thank God for new car technology, the only injury she got is a couple of puncture wounds in her leg from the door. The girl was ok.
@anonanonagain, I think you hit the nail on the head right there. All the information and statistics in the world won’t get through to an idiot.
#5 @illegal to hide = It’s NOT “entrapment” for checkpoint locations to remain undisclosed by police.
@Mayor = It defeats its purpose of attempting to catch drunk driver’s who kill loved ones whenever you disclose the locations.
I think it’s great to alert the public of its planned operation a few days ahead so driver’s think twice & either do not drink that night or make a conscious effort to use a designated driver that night.
BUT, disclosing the location just causes scofflaw’s to avoid that area/ road.
How many police lieutenants will have their DUIs dismissed “in the interest of justice?”
I’m sure everyone here has at one time or another driven after drinking, talked on their phones while driving, and driven while nodding off.
How exactly do you propose for roving patrols to catch unlicensed drivers? Wait until they commit a traffic infraction? Surely you aren’t considering racial profiling.
@US_DOJ_Gov,
Why don’t you try telling the U.S. Supreme Court and the California Supreme Court that locations shouldn’t be disclosed. (rolls eyes)
@Kurtis
I believe the largest group for texting is the 30 – 38 age group and second is the 20-30 age group. I believe that lawmakers are reluctant to pass critical and severe legislation similar to DUI legislation is because so many of them do it. That’s why it took forever to pass DUI legislation. Nearly everyone drank some and drove. Drinking isn’t quite as popular today as it used to be. Rest assured, our legislators are calling and texting like madmen while driving. We’ve got to pressure our legislators to act on this problem. I’m glad your mom’s okay. However, your mom and/or the girl could have been injured or killed. A bad outcome could have ruined so many lives. It’s just not worth it. If you can, write your state legislators and share your story.
Good luck you you and your mom!
Unfortunately, the SCOTUS continues to give more power to the police and strip power from ordinary citizens. We’re seeing the results, not only in checkpoints that violate our 4th Amendment rights, but encourage and reward aggressive and abusive policing practices. The SCOTUS ruled that the government had a greater interest in stopping DUI drivers than you have to your 4th Amendment rights under Michigan Dept. of State Police v. Sitz.
http://www.freedomsphoenix.com/News/102597-2012-01-04-dash-cam-video-appears-to-show-officer-planting-evidence.htm?EdNo=001&From=
http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Officer-threatens-to-make-up-evidence-after-arrest-of-innocent-men-139266773.html?tab=video&c=y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9g1uvG5WoX0&feature=player_embedded
The militarization and lawlessness of our police forces should concern us all.
California is using suspicionless sobriety checkpoints as a pretense to stop and fine people for infractions unrelated to driving under the influence. Checkpoints are costly and catch very few actual people committing DUI.
*Ghost-rides the whip while DUI*
We should just have checkpoints everywhere. Then wouldn’t we all be safe from bad/drunk/texting drivers? After all what’s more important, being safe, or having some protection against a total police state? For that matter why don’t we let the police come into our homes anytime they have a mind to do so. Then they could check for alcohol, drugs, guns not locked up, you know, anything that doesn’t keep us “safe”.
Thanks Nick. Too many impaired drivers out there, including people “high” on prescription drugs……Have a great day.
Very true, hell even over the counter stuff can be bad sometimes. I know if I take benadryl when I run out of claritin, that stuff screws me up worse than 4 beers in an hour.
Cool. Round up some drunks.
Going to jump in again for those who think they are being “violated” and having their “rights” taken away by law enforcement…tell that to the family members who just lost THREE loved ones Wednesday night by a drunk driver/murderer as they were returning home from a funeral! Where are the rights of these people as they will be laid to rest? How violated are they by being hit by a drunk? If it takes a few moments out of my day to go through a sobriety checkpoint-so be it! If it saves ONE life, it is worth it. My friend’s husband was murdered by a drunk driver on a rural Wisconsin road at 3:00 in the afternoon….devastating that family. So, all you people out there who are yammering about “rights”..what about OUR rights to not be hit/maimed/paralized by a drunk! May you never know what it’s like. As for me, go ahead and search me, my car, whatever you feel has to be done ….. I can guarantee you I never drink and drive and do NOT feel “violated” by going through a DUI checkpoint…life is too precious!
Give me one day with an Officer Armed with a CAMERA and being the passenger as I drive around the streets of Claycord. The number of license plates and cell phone violators will pay His salary for a month.
And you ALL KNOW THAT’S THE TRUTH
these checkpoints don’t really net that many DUI arrests. I imagine DUI checkpoint day is like pizza party day at the office. Sit around, sip on some cocoa and have some yummy treats, while inconveniencing the 99 percent of the people not driving drunk. Can’t wait to hear about the whopping 1 DUI arrest they netted for 6 hours of work.
Do you really expect us to buy this its for “public safety” drunk driver bullsh*t. That is so far from the truth of what these checkpoints are about. It has maybe 1% to do with “public safety” and 99% of these checkpoints are about money. It is illegal to detain anyone without probable cause and they found away around this by these searches. The police cannot profile but they do, they cannot enter your home without probable cause, and your car is considered your personal property, and they violate us by being able to pull us over because the states so broke the only thing they are able to do, is steal your car so they can auction it off. Does everyone know that these checkpoints are VOLUNTARY??? that we are within our rights to not participate? we are supposed to be able to choose not to stop, and be able to turn away if we dont want to engage in these “voluntary checkpoints”. Ever tried to exercise that?? we all have free will and it is our right as a citizen to have these basic human rights. it is ENTRAPMENT. thats why they call it “SPEED-TRAP” So before you start telling your half truth garbage, why not tell the whole truth about these checkpoints. they want your car , period.
@andrea:
Once more, from the top – the definition of entrapment:
Entrapment holds if all three conditions are fulfilled:
The idea for committing the crime came from the government agents and not from the person accused of the crime.
Government agents then persuaded or talked the person into committing the crime. Simply giving someone the opportunity to commit a crime is not the same as persuading them to commit that crime.
The person was not ready and willing to commit the crime before interaction with the government agents.
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