WBOC.com reports today that a DUI checkpoint in Eden, MD last night resulted in one DUI arrest. Seven hundred forty three people had to be stopped and checked in order to find that one case of suspected DUI.

The checkpoint was a collaborative effort of the Maryland State Police, the Somerset County Sheriff's Office, the Princess Anne Police Department, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore Police. This DUI checkpoint appears to have been a colossal waste of taxpayer resources.

At some point, our courts are going to rule that it is unreasonable to inconvenience a thousand people in a dragnet effort to find one person who can be arrested for DUI. DUI checkpoints are a bad practice. The U.S. Constitution (and the individual State Constitutions) make it unlawful for police to stop and detain citizens without reasonable, articulable suspicion of wrongdoing. On that basis, DUI checkpoints should be declared per se unconstitutional. There is no reason to stop and detain seven hundred forty three drivers and their passengers (all told, probably far more than a thousand people) in order to get only one DUI arrest.

 

 

Matt Stiller represents citizens stopped and detained at checkpoints who are charged with criminal offenses, including Driving Under the Influence or DUI, drug offenses such as possession of marijuana, and other traffic related offenses. To speak to Matt about your criminal or DUI case, please contact him here.