You may have heard of the latest National anti-DUI ad campaign, called "Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over." In conjunction with that highly-funded and highly-visible national ad blitz, Orange County Sheriff announced it would be stepping up its own patrols and arrests. In fact, they are taking "Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over" one step further, as they will be setting up roadblocks to stop drivers regardless of whether they're driving sober or not. You might call it the Orange County "Drive Sober, Get Pulled Over Anyway" campaign.
In America, land of liberty, the government is not allowed to suddenly decide to set up roadblocks and force you to prove your innocence to them. That would be a violation of Constitutional rights. In fact, these Constitutional Rights apply even in Orange County and, though begrudgingly, Orange County law enforcement tries to work within that constitutional framework, at least when it comes to DUI checkpoints.
Among many other technical regulations that law enforcement must abide by in conducting a DUI checkpoint, one of them is publicly announcing where the checkpoints are going to be conducted. Here is what they announced in a recent press release:
Fri. Aug 19, DUI/DL CHECKPOINT 1800-0100 hrs, City of Cypress
Fri. Aug 19, DUI TASK FORCE OPERATIONS 2000-0400 Cities of San Clemente, Dana Point & San Juan Capistrano
Sat. Aug 20, DUI/DL CHECKPOINT 1900-0300 hrs, City of Tustin
Fri. Aug 26, DUI/DL CHECKPOINT, 2000-0300 hrs, City of Anaheim
Fri. Aug 26, DUI TASK FORCE OPERATIONS, 2000-0300 hrs, Cities of Irvine and Newport Beach
Sat. Aug 27, DUI TASK FORCE OPERATIONS, 2000-0300 hrs, Cities of Garden Grove, Anaheim, Placentia and Buena Park
Thurs. Sep 1, DUI CHECKPOINT, 2100-0300 hrs, City of Cypress Fri. Sep 2, DUI CHECKPOINT 1900 - 0300 hrs, City of Mission Viejo
Of course, they have provided only bare-bones information about their checkpoints, which may not be enough to meet the constitutional requirements. Meaning if you are arrested at one of these checkpoints, FIGHT THE CASE with a good lawyer, and you may be surprised at the results.
Drive carefully, don't answer police questions, don't take field sobriety tests, and don't take any chemical tests before you are arrested (AFTER you're arrested you must take a blood or breath test or else you lose your license for a year, but if you follow the above advice, it greatly decreases the chances that you'll be arrested) . . . and avoid those checkpoint areas listed above. If you need us, we're here to help, call (949) 873-2724 to speak to an experienced DUI lawyer.
