The Sedgwick County Sheriff's office conducted a DUI checkpoint in Eastern Sedgwick County on the evening of June 13, 2008. While the results of this roadblock were better than the .065% success rate about which I blogged previously, one can not exactly call the sobriety checkpoint a raving success.
Two hundred drivers and an unknown number of passengers were detained under the color of authority by law enforcement officials and prevented from exercising their constitutional right to go about their business without being subject to unreasonable seizures by the government. These citizens were not suspected of a crime or even a traffic infraction. Rather they were simply driving a vehicle on the public roads. Six of those two hundred drivers were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol in contravention of Kansas Law. If we only consider the drivers of the vehicles and not any passengers who were also subjected to seizure by the government, this is a 3.5% success rate. Is this a reasonable success rate upon which to justify government intrusion into the lives of innocent citizens?
When tactics such as saturation patrols in which people are stopped only if officers see a traffic infraction are more effective tools to detect drunk drivers and less intrusive into the lives of innocent citizens, why do these sobriety check points prevail? Do they exist to ferret out those who are driving under the influence of alcohol or is ttheir existence spurred by the financial grants which come with the condition that DUI check points are conducted?
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