Cops to run DWI checkpoints

[Pat McCotter]

I don't know but...
Say no. If they get hostile get out and lock the car with the keys inside.

[Republidog]

What are the laws on 'setting out of the vehicle'?

It's all color of law. If you don't get out they'll try to say it was a "safety issue" although no law exists, or that you were intimidating or they'll rip you out of the car and charge you with resisting arrest after the fact. Yes, it's that bad here. You aren't under arrest (of course the minute they stop you you techinically are "arrested") and yet they pull YOU out of your car and then say you resisted. If you're really unfortunate and there aren't many people around they'll beat you up a little and claim you assulted them.

It's the old case of "if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail".

Amazing, they put the cops out there to catch people and *gasp* they start finding reasons to catch people.

I point blank asked the cops why they setup checkpoints and they told me "to catch drunks, speeders, people with warrants, people with no insurance, people with expired registration, people with unsafe vehicles, drug users, people with illegal guns, etc. etc."

Most of the good old cops here are gone in my area. It's a bunch of young 'roid heads or GIs back fresh from Iraq who still think they're in a war environment.

God bless the good cops out there, I don't know how they make it.

[Pat McCotter]

NH Police Checkpoint Shenanigans

Portsmouth judge Sharon Devries was stopped by a police checkpoint last October, an experience she said made her "bristle." She further is quoted as saying, "there?s also this, you know, the public relations piece of it where people are offended by arbitrarily being stopped."

Portsmouth police K-9 unit, 2002.Her experience has come to light amid a series of DWI cases which she has thrown out, citing a lack of proper forewarning by police for their sobriety checkpoints. This last July, Portsmouth police sent out a press release only the day before their sobriety checkpoint. They had applied for the authorization only three days before. The Supreme Court of the US and the National Transportation Safety Administration both recommend advance notice in local media of upcoming sobriety checkpoints. Such notice is intended to encourage public awareness of drunk driving and reduce feelings of intrusion.
Sobriety checkpoints have been ruled legal in the US by the Supreme Court in Michigan v. Sitz and subsequent rulings, and in New Hampshire by the State Supreme Court. New Hampshire is the only state which first requires Superior Court order. Interestingly, in State v. Koppel, the State Supreme Court found that to justify suspicionless stops, the state must show that its objective cannot be met with less intrusive means. But the court also found no evidence that checkpoints are a greater deterrent than publicized roving patrols.

So, not only were Portsmouth police interested in surprising drivers with a checkpoint, they could have served the same purpose with marginally less intrusion via roving patrols if they had bothered to tell anyone. Why might they have been interested in making sure it was a police checkpoint?

One answer is the money. Sobriety checkpoints justify budgets and provide lucritive overtime pay to the police officers who opt to work them. This author has witnessed such a checkpoint, and it features police, some with dogs, stopping cars while more than a dozen other officers, many state police, drink coffee and stand around looking bored but getting paid.

Sobriety checkpoints bring together a number of state and local agencies. Assistance with the Portsmouth checkpoint last July came from state police, the county Sheriff?s Department, the state Liquor Commission and the Dover police. Part of the funding came from the state?s Highway Safety Agency.

One effective tactic against such arbitrary and public displays of police force, for those wishing to subvert the checkpoint, is to go up the road a mile or so and warn drivers about the checkpoint so they may find an alternate route. This author and her cohorts have used this tactic with some success. When we tried it, local police did not prevent us from continuing our "detour." And when the bars got out downtown, people that might have otherwise been driving home, joined in the fun. Since the checkpoint was late at night, local kids with nothing better to do, but a healthy hostility for authority, also joined in.

For the record, I think drunk driving is positively reckless, but heavy-handed police tactics are most definately not the solution. When we asked local police why cops might spend their time on such a checkpoint instead of stopping, say, rampant domestic violence, our local cops only said they opted out of participating in the checkpoint. When we questioned a police officer at the checkpoint why he needed a K-9 unit, he responded that a suspect might try to run away. Such is the state of preserving sobriety in New Hampshire.

[Atlas]

Sobriety checkpoints should be the next item on the plate after the discontinuation of the real id act.

[aries]

You know what would be a fun game? Find out when and where the check will be, have your own breathalizer, and get your BAC juuuust up to the legal limit (0.08%).

Can they ticket or arrest you if you are not legally drunk, but acting completely smashed?

[Republidog]

You know what would be a fun game? Find out when and where the check will be, have your own breathalizer, and get your BAC juuuust up to the legal limit (0.08%).

Can they ticket or arrest you if you are not legally drunk, but acting completely smashed?

Absolutely. If you have ANY alcohol in your system at all and are acting drunk then you can still be arrested. It's officer's discretion. If they say you were publically intoxicated or a "public danger" etc. etc. (there are probably 20+ things they can get you on) you will be taken in at least where I'm at.

[NC2NH]

you will be taken in at least where I'm at.

here in New Hampsha?

[Atlas]

Impaired driving limit is .04% alc/blood

[aries]

Impaired driving limit is .04% alc/blood

According to the DMV manual on my bookshelf, .08 is the maximum intoxication level for drivers over 21.

.04 age 18-21

.02 under 18

But I guess if you are at .08, you better keep it cool.

[Pat McCotter]

Impaired driving limit is .04% alc/blood

According to the DMV manual on my bookshelf, .08 is the maximum intoxication level for drivers over 21.

.04 age 18-21

.02 under 18

But I guess if you are at .08, you better keep it cool.

What is the date on that book? The one I just downloaded does not include the .04. It just has >=21 and <21.

The RSA does not include it either.

[Russell Kanning]

We must be a bunch of rednecks in our area .... we don't allow checkpoints yet.

[aries]

Impaired driving limit is .04% alc/blood

According to the DMV manual on my bookshelf, .08 is the maximum intoxication level for drivers over 21.

.04 age 18-21

.02 under 18

But I guess if you are at .08, you better keep it cool.

What is the date on that book? The one I just downloaded does not include the .04. It just has >=21 and <21.

The RSA does not include it either.

Benson is smiling at me from the inside front cover, it's kind of old.

[Atlas]

I'd like to see some cops' careers ruined after they leave a bar and run through their own checkpoint.

[Republidog]

I'd like to see some cops' careers ruined after they leave a bar and run through their own checkpoint.

I could find 5 stories where that happened and the cop got off without anything at all, perhaps some paid leave.

There was a local case here where an undercover cop was doing some crazy speed like 80 on a back road, flipped the car and killed himself. For a few days there was talk of his extremely high BAC then it all dissappeared and they said he "hit wet roads" In that case, the man died, he paid the ultimate price regardless of law. But there are others where cops are DUI and get nothing or a warning or paid leave.

But then again, if you know where the checkpoints are as a cop and are dumb enough to drive there drunk... ???

[KBCraig]

I'd like to see some cops' careers ruined after they leave a bar and run through their own checkpoint.

You mean like U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-RI? Even if his (probably-)BS story is true, driving under the influence of prescription or OTC medication is just as illegal as DUI of alcohol.

Most of today's commentary has been along the lines of, "At least he didn't kill anyone, unlike his father!"

Multiple public episodes of problem substance abuse doesn't seem to have dampened either Kennedy's public career.

Kevin