FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRESS RELEASE #05910
Subject : Police plan sobriety and driver’s license checkpoint
Sylvia Palmer Mudrick, Public Information Coordinator, Fullerton City Manager’s Office (714) 738-6317

The checkpoint will be held from 8 p.m.-2 a.m., and the location is not being announced, but will be on a major thoroughfare.

Sgt. Tak Kim, who is coordinating the checkpoint for the Police Department, said DUI checkpoints are a “proven method for achieving the department’s goal of increasing awareness as to the dangers of driving while impaired by either alcohol or drugs.
“Our objective is to send a clear message to those who are considering driving after consuming alcohol and/or drugs, and that message is ‘Drunk Driving: Over the limit, under arrest.’”
He said the checkpoint is also a good method for ensuring motorists are driving with valid licenses.

Funding for the checkpoint was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Further information about the checkpoint may be obtained by contacting the Fullerton Police Traffic Bureau at (714) 738-5313.
I have heard some interesting perspectives on DUI checkpoints that I hadn't considered before. Some think that giving up our freedom to move without unreasonable searches and seizures is justified if it means taking one drunk off the street. Others believe that they are great because unlicensed drivers, usually illegal aliens or poor people, get arrested and their cars impounded.

If we are serious about protecting the public and not the headlines or revenue generated by these checkpoints, I think the city should pay back every penny of the grant money and only keep what is left. Otherwise, we have taxpayers throughout the country paying for a problem created by our own bars. We should not need state or federal subsidies to cover the expense of cleaning up a mess created by saturating our city with too many bar permits.