The Outrageous Hypocrisy behind DUI Sobriety Checkpoints
California DUI sobriety checkpoints aren’t “criminal investigations”, they’re simply tools to help deter drunk drivers…at least that’s what the California Supreme Court said when it held that sobriety checkpoints are legal despite the fact that people are being stopped without probable cause.
The court got around that issue by requiring that California DUI checkpoints must adhere to certain guidelines in order to be legally valid. One of the guidelines that regulate these California DUI checkpoints is that their location be publicly advertised.
Why then are the police so upset that people are “tweeting” and “texting” each other to spread the word about a checkpoint’s location? Public awareness is, after all, important in “deterring” DUIs…
For example, the Los Angeles Times today reported that Mexico City is threatening to prosecute people who “tweet” about DUI roadblocks because those individuals are “divulging privileged information”. If the police are legally required to advertise their checkpoint’s location, how is it privileged information? The fact that it is disseminated perhaps earlier than the cops would like doesn’t change its nature…its nature as public information.
Shouldn’t be too long before our own police agencies jump on this bandwagon…
