DUI checkpoints net offenders, but remain controversial

Drivers slowed as they pulled to a stop on a dark section of Route 13 in Bristol Township. When they rolled or thumbed down their window, a cop's head popped in.

The officers - eight of them stopping sets of four cars at a time - leaned into the open windows and asked to see a driver's license. They explained that it was a DUI checkpoint and, hopefully, the drivers would be on their way again in seconds.

Not everyone got to drive away, though.

If the officers noticed signs of intoxication - bloodshot eyes, slurred speech, the odor of alcohol - drivers were instructed to pull their vehicles off to the shoulder of the road next to the former DeGrand Diner parking lot. If no signs of intoxication were there, the vehicles were waved on.

The drivers who were pulled over were given field sobriety tests and asked to take portable breath tests. Some were under the legal limit of .08 for driving, according to the breath test results. Others weren't. They stumbled while trying to walk a straight line or showed other signs that their coordination was impaired. Those drivers were escorted to the Bristol Township Emergency Management Department's mobile command post, which was staffed by members of the fire marshal's office and paramedics from the Bucks County Rescue Squad who were ready to take blood samples to be tested later for alcohol content.

The vehicles of those drivers were towed and the suspects were held until a family member or friend could pick them up, police said.

Checkpoints like that one in Bristol Township are held thousands of times each year across the U.S.

The almost four-hour Bristol Township checkpoint ended with five DUI arrests, one man arrested on a previous warrant and five traffic citations issued.

But more importantly, police said, 360 other drivers saw cops from the township and Bristol Borough, Middletown and Tullytown enforcing DUI laws.

The visibility factor doesn't sway opponents, who say checkpoints are a waste of time and money.

According to the American Beverage Institute, a restaurant trade association, roving police patrols are 10 times more likely to catch drunken drivers. Plus, the group claims that no statistical data supports claims that checkpoints are a deterrent.

ABI director Sarah Longwell said that 10 percent figure comes from testimony in a Pennsylvania Supreme Court case.

Commonwealth v. Gary Beaman was a suit regarding the constitutionality of checkpoints. It cited statistics from 1999 through 2001 showing that fewer than 1 percent of drivers stopped at DUI checkpoints were charged with DUI while almost 8 percent of drivers stopped by roving patrols were charged with DUI.

The state's high court ruled that checkpoints are constitutional. In issuing the decision, the majority also noted that while the deterrent effect of a checkpoint isn't easily quantifiable, it follows "sound reasoning."

ABI also argues that checkpoints are inordinately expensive, given the relatively few arrests made. According to ABI, a checkpoint can cost more than $10,000, while a roving patrol costs about $300.

Harry McCann, director of the Bucks County's police training center, also administers the state DUI enforcement grant money for the county. McCann said checkpoints in Bucks usually cost $2,500 to $3,000, though the cost can rise to $4,000 if drivers on both sides of the road are being stopped. The majority of equipment needed for a checkpoint has already been purchased, so most of the grant money from PennDOT is spent paying the officers' hourly wages. McCann said the county has been receiving the grant for 15 years.

Opponents also say that checkpoints are too easily avoided by drunks.

"Because they are highly visible by design and publicized in advance, roadblocks are all too easily avoided by the chronic alcohol abusers who comprise the core of today's drunk driving problem," Longwell has said.

However, that visibility and publicity is exactly what makes the checkpoints worthwhile, according to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration. The deterrence effect of showing or telling Americans about a checkpoint creates a perceived risk of detection that may stop drivers from driving impaired, the agency stated.

That sentiment is repeated by Mothers Against Drunk Driving, which has said the goal of a DUI checkpoint isn't arresting people, but deterring them from drinking and driving. And, according to MADD, for every dollar spent on a DUI checkpoint between $6 and $23 is saved on the costs of alcohol-related crashes.

Checkpoints also decrease the occurrence of alcohol-related crashes, according to a 2002 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The ABI criticizes the CDC report, saying it uses 30-year-old examples, as well as many examples from outside the U.S., and crash statistics involving any amount of alcohol, not necessarily drunken driving crashes.

Lower Southampton police Lt. Ted Krimmel said checkpoints are both a public relations and enforcement tool. Lower Southampton police have participated in two DUI checkpoints this year, resulting in seven arrests.

"Several cars go through the checkpoint," said Krimmel. "Most are not driving while impaired. Hopefully they see us out there and think twice before driving after drinking."