Do stops make roads safer or trap the poor, undocumented?
Escondido police officers talk to drivers at a sobriety and license checkpoint on a recent Saturday night. — Charlie Neuman
ESCONDIDO — It’s become a common sight in Escondido about once a month: Orange traffic cones are set up to create a diversion lane, an electronic sign alerts drivers to a checkpoint ahead, and police officers stand on a median to greet motorists.More than 600 vehicles passed through a preliminary screening of a DUI and driver’s license checkpoint on a recent Saturday night, and for all but a few dozen drivers the process was simple and took less than 30 seconds.
Six field sobriety tests were administered that night at Valley Parkway and Avenida del Diablo, leading to two DUI arrests. Sixteen vehicles were impounded because their drivers had no license or a suspended license. The other 20 or so drivers sent to a secondary screening area were free to go after showing a valid driver’s license, passing a sobriety test or getting a child-safety seat installed.
“Checkpoints aren’t about anything but traffic safety,” Escondido Police Chief Jim Maher said.
Reserve Officer Tom Causey, a retired lieutenant, directs vehicles into the primary screening area at a sobriety and license checkpoint. — Charlie Neuman
Many activists say the routine practice of impounding cars hits low-income communities especially hard.
Storage fees and fines can amount to several thousand dollars and those unable to pay lose their vehicle, making it harder for them to earn a living, they say. Many Latinos — who make up 46 percent of Escondido’s population — and activists say they see checkpoints as traps aimed at illegal immigrants.
Police and state officials say checkpoints have helped reduce DUI-related injuries and deaths.
The origins of the arguments against the checkpoints in Escondido can be traced to 2006, when the then-City Council adopted — and later rescinded — an ordinance that would punish landlords for renting to illegal immigrants. The checkpoints were seen as another method of targeting illegal immigrants. Driver’s license-only checkpoints began in 2004 and were altered in 2010 to include checks for insurance, registration and mechanical defects.
Opponents routinely protest the checkpoints, holding up signs in the area to divert drivers, and outside police headquarters on Friday evenings.
Former City Council candidate Carmen Miranda said the goal of the group — whose members are not only Latinos — is to get police to stop asking for driver’s licenses at checkpoints.
“The community perceives that these are not DUI checkpoints but immigration checkpoints,” Miranda said. “It’s not that way legally, but it looks that way” because the checkpoints result in more cars being impounded than DUI arrests.
The state Office of Traffic Safety, which funds checkpoints with grants, said deterrence and education is the primary purpose. Spokesman Chris Cochran said an increased emphasis on checkpoints in recent years matches a drop in DUI deaths.
Cochran said checkpoint locations are determined by statistics that show areas with a high concentration of DUI crashes and arrests. Studies have shown “checkpoints take two very dangerous types of drivers off the road: people driving impaired and people driving after their license was suspended or revoked, or because they never obtained one,” he said.
Cochran said Escondido ranked second in 2005 among same-sized cities in the state for collisions involving alcohol-related deaths and injuries. It ranked seventh in 2009.
Setup began for the recent Saturday checkpoint at 6 p.m., with more than 30 sworn officers, community service officers, volunteers and cadets. By 7 p.m., reserve Officer Tom Causey, a retired lieutenant, started to direct cars into the primary screening area.
Vehicles were about 200 feet away from Causey when he began to wave them into the screening lane. When the primary screening area was full, the officer used a lighted baton to direct cars to continue past on Valley Parkway until room opened up again in the screening lane. Causey said drivers aren’t selected for screening based on what they drive or what they look like.
Drivers were sent to the secondary screening area if they showed signs of intoxication, the odor of alcohol was detected or a driver did not show a license. Sobriety tests were done with any suspected drunken driver.
As the night progressed, a 30-year-old man whose preliminary breath screening showed his blood alcohol content well above the legal limit was arrested. An Escondido man was among the unlicensed drivers cited. His wife said her husband is licensed in Mexico but has been unable to obtain a license here because he does not have a Social Security number. The two waited for an uncle to pick them up. Police had the car impounded.
michelle.breier@uniontrib.com • (760) 752-6762
