DUI Sobriety Checkpoints - California DUI Law and Legal Information

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California law enforcement officers including members of the California Highway Patrol (CHP), local police officers, or sheriff's deputies use sobriety checkpoints - temporary roadblocks on public streets or roadways designed to detect drunk driver.

Sobriety checkpoints or roadblocks involve law enforcement officials stopping every vehicle on a public roadway and investigating the possibility that the driver might be impaired to drive. They are often set up late at night or in the very early morning hours and on weekends, at which time the proportion of impaired drivers tends to be the highest.

With a portable and quick alcohol breath test, the police can test all drivers (if the law permits), and process the cars one by one as in a conveyor belt. When there is no quick test, a more complicated routine is necessary. Upon suspicion, the stopped driver is required to exit the vehicle and take a roadside sobriety test that requires the demonstration of both mental and balance skills. If the officer determines that the test has not been passed, the driver is then required to take an alcohol breath test.

San Francisco Bay Area DUI defense lawyers at the Law Office of Robert Tayac are well-versed in the requirements of sobriety checkpoints and can determine whether a DUI arrest made was valid.

The landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Michigan Department of State Police vs. Sitz established many of the guidelines that now govern police in the establishment of sobriety checkpoints. If those guidelines aren't followed, any evidence gathered may be suppressed.

Police must use a neutral mathematical formula to select vehicles, to avoid giving officers discretion in deciding who to stop. Checkpoints must be maintained safely for both police and motorists, have high visibility, and minimize the average time each motorist is detained.

The Supreme Court has ruled that the primary purpose of a sobriety check point is to promote public safety by deterring intoxicated persons from driving, not to discover evidence of crime or to make arrests of drunk drivers. Thus, a sobriety checkpoint roadblock serves a regulatory purpose and is not considered a criminal investigation roadblock, so no warrants are required.

The court also held that a vehicle stopped at a roadblock constitutes a seizure under the Fourth Amendment. A Fourth Amendment seizure occurs "when there is a governmental termination of freedom of movement through means intentionally applied."

Not all roadblocks violate drivers' Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizures. The key issue is reasonableness. Courts apply a balancing test which weighs the government's interests against the intrusiveness of the detention on the individual in order to determine whether a Fourth Amendment violation has occurred.

An experienced Northern California DUI lawyer can evaluate every aspect of a sobriety checkpoint to determine whether police followed established guidelines. If the checkpoint was not properly operated, the attorney will argue that any evidence gathered during the stop was improperly obtained, and should be suppressed.