Total DUI

News from Portsmouth, New Hampshire calls attention to a potential thorn in the side of the extremely popular DUI sobriety checkpoint that law enforcement officials have used with some frequency across the nation over the past few years.

Sobriety checkpoints are placed along stretches of the road that have a high incidence of drunk driving, especially during heavy drinking periods, such as weekends and holidays.

Typically, a sobriety checkpoint works in one of two ways: either police officers employ a quick breath test and the drivers for each car that passes are tested, or officers will stop only certain drivers for sobriety tests.

The problem of Portsmouth stems from a series of such roadblocks set up in July 2005.  The local Seacoastonline reports that the DUI arrests made during the five-agency team effort are languishing in courts.

Of 514 drivers stopped at the DUI checkpoints, 8 were arrested.  Currently, half of the cases have been resolved with plea agreements to lesser charges, and deals are being negotiated for the remaining four cases.

Instead of DUI charges, the plea agreements so far have involved reckless driving pleas with a small fine and short suspension of license (generally, just a couple of months).  If the remaining please hold form, the end result of the roadblock effort will be NOT ONE DUI conviction.

Of course, roadblocks have faced scrutiny for allegations of unconstitutionality, since officers are stopping and investigating cars and drivers without cause.  The United States Supreme Court found that that sobriety checkpoints are constitutional, but eleven states have individually outlawed them.

Read more at Total DUI about the challenges to DUI checkpoints.

Of course, the Portsmouth case could warrant a different kind of scrutiny.  If they're questionable under civil rights laws, and ALSO unable to convict DUI suspects, then how effective are they anymore?