The Ottermanempire.com

One of my more reckless discussions is that of questioning how effective DUI  and other drug laws are when enforced.  Is the cure worse than the disease?  While many of these questions are   not  designed to provoke or offend  ( I assure you the theological stuff is )  and   are  training wheels for my arguments which  usually I’m 90 percent sure I can justify  to myself.  I’m just trying to get to the other 9%. ( I have to leave 1% open  after all)

Statewide holiday task force reports 2,828 DUI arrests

“A total of 2,828 DUI arrests were made during a statewide holiday
drunken-driving task force …. 6 percent more than the 2,663 arrests
during a comparable period in 2006.”,”
In the latest effort, authorities stopped 36,901 drivers and issued
11,361 citations for traffic offenses other than driving under the
influence, Mulleneaux said.”

Here we go again. In Arizona about 7%  of those stopped are charged DUI  93%  are not.  Despite figures showing that  police looking for dui via traditional patrols is more effective than the roadblocks and assorted gimmicks it just doesn’t play as well to the cameras.   From Tennessee. Roving patrols took about 19 hours per drunk based on observed behavior.  Checkpoints based on the suspicion that you are driving a car on the road the checkpoint is on took 29 hours. 

Sadly roving patrols aren’t as photogenic as a checkpoint. They don’t tell the people that aren’t infringing just what they are doing about dui , but making them wait, stop and interact with the nice officer  certainly  gets that point across.

I am not saying these checkpoints are not stopping people from driving, study after study shows they have an effect … but  at the expense of more effective methods.  About 10%  of the people arrested for DUI are caught at checkpoints during the holiday crackdowns then why not stop the  PR crap and actually get down to the effective keeping of the peace?

This is not a local phenomena.  Check out the experiences in  Florida, Ohio and an aggregate of studies conducted.  Same message from state to state.It’s not about their effectiveness as primary enforcement it’s the appearance to be seen to act rather than acting effectively that’s annoying me.  While you shouldn’t be trading safety for security it would be nice at least if we were getting what we thought

So please don’t pretend you care about DUI yet insist we need to haul over anyone making a trip just to get 7% of those stopped. Oh and the 4th amendment you have to toss out too for your safety at the expense of the rest I’d rather keep. 7% arrested doesn’t equal convicted either. The real numbers could be a lot less

K? Thx Bai.