From the Maryland State Police, Bel Air Barrack:
St. Patty’s Day is drawing near and as a result the Maryland State Police in conjunction with the Bel Air Police Department are conducting “Operation Don’t Press Your Luck by Driving Drunk.”
On Saturday March 15, 2014 the Maryland State Police Bel Air Barrack and Bel Air Police Department will be conducting a sobriety checkpoint. The goal will be to locate impaired drivers and to promote public awareness of the dangers of impaired driving.
From the Maryland State Police:
(Pikesville, MD) — Maryland State Police Superintendent Colonel Marcus L. Brown has ordered the deployment of additional State Police DUI enforcement efforts in each county beginning today to coincide with the increase in drinking and driving that occurs as a result of St. Patrick’s Day celebrations.
“Unfortunately, St. Patrick’s Day celebrations increase the number of drunk drivers on our roads and the risk of highway tragedies resulting from drunken driving crashes,” Colonel Brown said. “We want everyone to enjoy the celebrations, but act responsibly. Be certain you make plans ahead of time to arrange for a sober driver to transport you, whether that is a friend, cab driver, or transit driver. Stick to those plans. If you do not, a very sober state trooper or local police officer will quite possibly be driving you from the scene of your arrest.”
During previous St. Patrick’s Day weekends, DUI arrests by state troopers have doubled what they are on a normal day. Troopers and local law enforcement officers will be working together throughout the state to strictly enforce Maryland’s drunk driving laws.
Lt. Colonel Jerry Jones, Chief of the Field Operations Bureau, reports that most enforcement will occur this weekend through special patrols of troopers working areas known to have high numbers of DUI arrests or crashes, also known as saturation patrols. Troopers will also be staffing four sobriety checkpoints.
“Each of our 22 barrack commanders is deploying special patrols focused entirely on identifying and arresting drunk drivers,” Colonel Jones said. “Our goal is to find a drunk driver before he or she causes a crash that ends in tragedy.”
The State Police Impaired Driving Effort, known as the S.P.I.D.R.E. Team, will also be on patrol throughout the weekend. This team, funded by the Maryland Highway Safety Office, consists of the best drunk driving enforcement troopers in the State Police. They will also be focusing their patrols on areas known to have a potential for a high number of drunk drivers.
In Maryland, a first offense for driving under the influence could result in a fine of up to $1,000 and a sentence of up to one year in jail. In addition, the violation would mean 12 points on the offender’s driver’s license and a license revocation for six months. Driver’s licenses are confiscated by police from those refusing to take a blood alcohol test and from those whose test result is .08 or higher.
Those planning to drink alcoholic beverages are urged to make plans to get home safely before they begin drinking. Options include arranging for a sober driver, to whom you gave your keys, to drive you home; use a taxi; call a friend or family member to pick you up; or use public transportation.
State troopers are urging motorists to contact police if they see a driver who might be operating under the influence. Troopers and allied law enforcement will make every attempt to locate the driver and take the appropriate enforcement action.
Many of the additional troopers deployed by State Police will be on overtime and funded through a DUI enforcement grant from the Maryland Highway Safety Office. All troopers on regular patrol duty will also be on the alert for drunk drivers.
Checkpoints are an unconstitutional and inefficient PR stunt.
It’s a public road, and you have an over developed sense of entitlement
How are they unconstitutional? Do you go to the MVA and get a license to drive on a public highway? Do explain your vast knowledge of the law. I’m sure you think it involves the 4th and 11th amendments.
Could be because the only cause to stop you is the fact that you are driving a car on a certain day at a certain time on a certain road. There is no reason to stop you otherwise.
As a way to make it fair, the police should start to stop any and everyone they can just to see if they are fit to drive. In the name of public safety, of course.
What do you think checkpoints are? Stopping everyone who goes in that direction. As a person who has seen the effects of 4th or 5th DWI. They never learn. Why should the police have to “wait” for the drinkers to cause an accident or KILL an innocent person. I would say to all those people who think they are a bad idea…..go sit in district and circuit courts and see what these people do when they are drinking. It’s not about basic rights! It’s about saving lives. I for one would do not like feeling of loss because the police didn’t do checkpoints. SO GO SAY THEY ARE UNCONSTITUTIONAL, but they do save lives!
They who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.
So temporary safety is not getting killed or seriously injured by someone who is driving drunk. I, for one, do not want the police coming to my door to tell me my daughter is dead. What about the people breaking the law to drink and drive. Seems the liberty people do not have a problem with them going out there and breaking the law. Is this pick and chose what laws to speak out about. I am all for the 4th and 11th amendment, but I am for the police using my tax, yes I do pay taxes, dollars to prevent crime and stop people from drinking and driving.
You gave up your right to privacy the moment you accepted a driver’s license and agreed to abide the rules of driving on public highways. PUBLIC. What is it you don’t get?
The government should mandate licenses for going ANYWHERE in public, then they could control everything we do! Look, I don’t mind DUI checkpoints, but your willingness to give up your rights because the State issues (and charges for!) a card that gives you a right you already have is absurd. You sound like a teacher’s pet. We paid for those roads. They’re ours, not theirs.
Are you among the same people who want drug testing for welfare recipients?
Because recently lauded Obama for removing “arrogance” in his foreign policy.
Because is just as wrong giving away the liberty of others, but suffers from said arrogance and is too blinded by it to know any better.
Plug him back into the matrix. He is happy there.
I wanna drug test everyone getting paid the taxpayers money. Lets start with politicians, police, judges, colleg coaches, and work our way down from those who make the most of our dollars down to those the get the least.
Address the issue B. Not the person you disagree with. It only characterizes you as a sadist interested in little more than being malicious.
You have no proof if DWI Checkpoints save lives or not. All that you know for sure is that they identify and arrest a few drivers from time to time who are over the legal limit for driving after drinking.
I am not taking a position one way or the other regarding DWI Checkpoints, however, they are, for the most part, more about the publicity of the event, than producing great results for removing drivers over the legal alcohol limit.
So you supposedly worked in law enforcement and you are taking either position. Didn’t you see the effects do drinking and driving?
Of course I have seen the results of some drinking and driving incidents. Some were tragic. I have also seen the results of other accidents where other factors were a cause since alcohol was not involved. Any law enforcement agency will tell you (if they are honest) that they arrest and remove many more drivers from the roads during any year in ways other than at DWI Checkpoints. Checkpoints are for awareness and PR, and if they result in someone being removed from the road for driving intoxicated, great. Checkpoints however, are not the primary tool used in arresting and removing drunk drivers from our roads.
He also took an oath to uphold the constitution.
I do not support drunk driving or distracted driving in any way ,however I think an over all limit across the board isn’t correct or justified,there needs to be a formula to make the level correct to body weight and tolerance….just saying
Say what? The limit already factors in body size and is a measure of how many grams of alcohol are in a given blood or breath sample. The amount of alcohol that would get a 100 lb person to a .08 is very different than the amount that would get a 200 lb person to the same level.
And higher tolerance doesn’t mean that someone isn’t drunk at a .08. It just means that they can appear to compensate for it a little better in some situations. Their decision making abilities and coordination are still affected to the point where they have no business driving a vehicle. In any case, how would it even possible to reliably measure someone’s “tolerance” to alcohol?
And the real problem is that the majority of deaths due to alcohol happen at rates above .13, not .08. .08 is a money grab by the courts and MADD. It could have easily been left at .10 with no impact on death from DUI/DWI’s. Don’t worry, there are efforts to reduce it even further for no other reason than removing your money from your pocket. Plenty of other countries have already dropped it to .05-.06 range.
There’s a simple solution: Just don’t drink and drive. Have a designated driver. Call a cab. If you did have too much drink then wait before you drive. Or…gasp…just don’t drink as much to begin with. Your wallet, waistline, and liver will thank you.
In any case, I don’t think the state makes much (if any) money off DUI cases. Unless it’s a repeat offender I’ve rarely ever seen someone end up with a fine higher than $250 since most of the time the judge suspended a large portion of the $1000 fine. I see people regularly pay higher fines than that for simple speeding tickets.
I think the main point of these checkpoints is to give pause to any person who is thinking of drinking and driving, I mean they announced the checkpoint in advance. If you are still stupid enough to drink and drive you deserve what you get. Next time get a designated driver, or just drink at home and save us all the trouble of these checkpoints.
Easy money, like taking candy from a baby.
The money is made by lawyers representing people for thousands of dollars for what is usually a pro forma procedure. The judges are former lawyers with lawyer friends.
The private “educational” programs that require many weeks of court ordered attendance for a high fee are another moneymaker for connected groups.