Petaluma police tonight will hold two DUI/license checkpoints from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m.
The checkpoints are part of a department program to crack down on drunken drivers and those driving on suspended licenses or without a license at all. Petaluma has held several checkpoints this year and is the most active in doing so of any Sonoma County police agency.
The checkpoints’ locations aren’t being disclosed. One checkpoint will be set up at 6 p.m. and then at some point in the night it’ll be moved to a second location, Sgt. Ken Savano.
He said 12 Petaluma officers being paid overtime will staff the checkpoints. Their pay is covered by a grant from the state Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, he said.
Protesters who oppose police practices of impounding cars of drivers cited or arrested on license violations are expected to be at or near the checkpoints.
Michelle
All I have to say to the protesters is people should not drink and drive and don’t have a suspended licenses or without a license. People who are driving Legally don’t have anything to worry about. DRIVING IS A PRIVILEGE NOT A RIGHT.
July 23rd, 2010 8:21 am
joseph Donegan
They should bring back the old vehicle inspection programs for public safety and get these unsafe vehicles off the road until they can be properly repaired.
That way they can conduct the inspections in the morning when the professional drinkers have already made their pit stops at the bars that open at six AM. The biggest effect these checkpoints have is to increase public awareness. The only reason these protesters are being tolerated and not arrested for obstruction of justice is that they too and the increased press coverage is also increasing public awareness.
July 23rd, 2010 9:06 am
Amy
I can appreciate that the protestors are upset about the impounds, but honestly if the unlicensed drivers entered the country lawfully, they would be able to get a license and drive legally, avoiding the impound issue altogether. So my recommendation to them is to give up on the protest. Its not going to change anything.
If you really want to help those affected, help them get their papers.
July 23rd, 2010 9:08 am
Steve
Just another example of how our society is crumbling. The majority of us are morons for paying taxes, paying DMV fees, paying insurance, etc. These protestors have it right, let’s just drive without licenses, without insurance. The law doesn’t matter. Follow the rules and pay taxes, fees, insurance rates, etc. Don’t follow the rules and pay no taxes (get a refund beyond any taxes with the EITC), no fees, no insurance…that’s the way to do it!
July 23rd, 2010 9:11 am
Mary
I agree with the previous comment. DRIVING IS A PRIVILEGE! If you have been drinking, or if you do not have a valid license, Sonoma County has great public Transportation and there are may cab Driveres looking for work. Use alternitive transportation it keeps us all safe.
July 23rd, 2010 9:23 am
Jim
This is America – NOT A POLICE STATE – These checkpoints are a slippery slope and do not work. Look at the money spent spent per arrest for DUI.
These are just ploys to arrest people and require us to CARRY PAPERS and SHOW THEM WHEN ASKED!!!!!!
I am not for DUI, but I abhor living in a police state.
Jim
July 23rd, 2010 9:37 am
K
DUI check points are a good thing. Even if you dont go through it, and only read about one in another town, it makes you think a little harder. Am I really sober enough to drive? Did I send in that check for my registration? Do I have my current insurance card in my car?
Protesters should spend there time protesting something else that matters, not warning drunks and lawbreakers to ditch out side streets ahead of the checkpoint.
I pay for my vehicle registration, I took my driving test. I pay my tickets. I don’t jump bail. And I expect others to do the same. Why in the world would anyone want to protest the “right” not to? And how will they feel if in protesting they warn off a drunk driver, who gets away, and then kills someone?
July 23rd, 2010 9:37 am
Blaze
I am going to go out and protest……wait a minute I cant because I don’t drive without a license..drink and drive, drive a stolen vehicle, or any other infraction. This is just for those ‘WHO GOT CAUGHT’. That will be great, let’s all drive by these areas and laugh at these loosers that got caught. Maybe we should get immagration out there too!
July 23rd, 2010 10:00 am
NOTUTOO
I’m going to go out on a limb and say that none of the protesters have had a friend or relative killed by a drunk driver. If they had I’m sure that they would find a different venue for their protests.
July 23rd, 2010 10:07 am
Eileen
I have to wonder what these individuals honestly think their actions will achieve? Checkpoints are setup to catch those who should not be driving a vehicle – DUI’s and unlicensed. I for one am in favor of “illegals” being able to become legal and therefore be licensed to drive and insured. Until that day comes they run the risk of being cited/vehicles impounded just like everyone else who should not be driving. I am a tree-hugging, bleedingheart, liberal, who cares about my fellow human. But I do believe the laws apply to all of us – no one segment of the population should be exempt.
July 23rd, 2010 10:15 am
Gene
I don’t want to be involved in an accident by someone without a license or insurance. Protesters should be cited.
July 23rd, 2010 10:57 am
Citizen
My concern is that these protestors are supporting crime. It is a crime to drive without a license. If you do not have a license you are a dangerous driver. It does not matter if you need to take your kids to school or go buy groceries, use the bus or take a bike or walk.
July 23rd, 2010 11:21 am
Shawna
Thank you Michelle!!!! A lot of people will fight you on that though. An, I’m sure the illegal immigrants rights lawyer will be standing by, waiting for one of California’s hispanic illegal immigrant to get pulled over & have their vehicle taken from them. Drunk, license suspended or not….bottom line is they shouldn’t be driving!!! And even though they know it…..they want to test fate anyway. If you are here illegally…….you get no special treatment, you’re not supossed to freaking be here.
July 23rd, 2010 11:44 am
Paul Dushkind
This makes it sound like the protesters know the secret locations of the checkpoints. I wonder how.
A recent letter to the editor in the PD complained of drivers who take indirect routes to avoid the checkpoints. I wonder how much more likely they are likely to be drinkers, or just sober people who don’t want to be inconvenienced.
July 23rd, 2010 11:53 am
joseph Donegan
For Some Reason the latino Radio Stations know were the checkpoints are and broadcast there locations, listener tips perhaps. It does a real disservice to the effort, but anything that gets the word out to not go out and drive if you are not qualified to do so is a good thing.
July 23rd, 2010 1:05 pm
vic bondo
This is a great thing.It is making the roads safer for everyone. I used to get drunk and drive all the time. but not in petaluma anymoe……..
July 23rd, 2010 1:24 pm
Art Perez
If you are helping crime and criminals then you a aiding and abetting, and if I am not mistaken that is illegal, so why are the protestors getting away with it?? Oh I forgot, this is Liberal Country!!
July 23rd, 2010 1:24 pm
Chris
Protesters = Westboro Baptist Church wannabes? That’s the looks of it to me. You people need to get a life while the police try to save yours. Yes, they are checkpoints. They aren’t doing searches of every vehicle that goes through the blockade, but asking if you have a license and if you have had anything to drink then cut you loose. It takes a whole couple of minutes and prevents potential fatalities. If that is something for you to protest, maybe you should look into that church, morons.
July 23rd, 2010 1:29 pm
Michaele Morales
These are not DUI checkpoints, if they wanted to get drunk drivers off the road they would set up near bars, clubs and winteries. These “checkpoints” are big money makers for the cities and the police officers involved.
The purpose is to take cars and inpound them for 30 days, (big money) and for police officers to make way too much overtime.
July 23rd, 2010 4:36 pm
melissa
wow some people here are ignorant just because you dont have a valid drivers license doesnt mean u dont have insurance and dont pay taxes and we all know these “dui checkpoints” are a scapegoat to harrass hard working people and its proven by the ratio of drunk drivers to people with suspended or no license at all what a waste of money!
July 23rd, 2010 6:48 pm
wendy
Well here are true facts people that are so selfish and stupid,to drive
under the influence should not only get a ticket and some finds and
there car impounded.They should lose there liscence for life,sounds
big but in all reality it isnt shit compared to burying your mother
as the result of a drunk driver like me and my siblings did.
So all you people that drink and drive should remeber all of
us who live the result of your selfishness behavior
BY WENDY
July 23rd, 2010 8:34 pm
John
Where are these checkpoints? I seems to missed everytime.
Not really though I did hit one of them in SR about 4 years ago.
July 24th, 2010 12:07 am
Eileen
I was stopped for the first time in my 35 plus years of driving at one of last nights checkpoints. I do not fit the profile everyone is complaining of – I am over 50, gray haired, drive a newer economy car, white, female. Before the checkpoint I was tailgated for several miles by a Latino driver who was so close I could not read his license plate. As soon as he saw a signholder he turned off. Obviously he was one of the drivers who should have been sighted – i.e. either unlicensed of intoxicated. I think people are really missing the mark here – if someone is unlicensed that means they do not know what the laws of the road are. They are an accident just waiting to happen. I applaud the Petaluma Police Department and appreciate their efforts.
July 24th, 2010 9:37 am
Tammy
I hear what Wendy is saying….and you can feel the life long anger in her tone. These family members not only have to deal with grief and loss….but anger is a dangerous to our health. Imagine the families who last their loved ones in that drunk driving accident near Geyserville…. that 27 year old girl was another casualty. Her life will never be the same.
I do believe in these check points. If we want to have the rights we have now, we have to be willing to give up some others, in order to allow us to have a society with a quality of life…worth making sacrifices FOR…
Let’s punish the offenders, and not worry about their color or status…just punish them the same as you would any other WHITE person….it does appear that’s what they are doing.
Also, let’s try to spend our time helping people like Wendy who have lost loved ones. She has her opinion for a good reason. But why not reach out to people like her, instead of holding up signs to help people evade the law?
People who have lost loved ones to drunk driving need our resources for counseling and whatever else affects them financially. Losing a parent can mean loss of income. Why not spend our efforts trying to help our citizens we have now, not go overboard on some who aren’t suppose to be here, driving a car in the first place?
Lastly, let’s learn to forgive. We need to punish, then forgive drunk drivers,( but NEVER forget) but we can’t expect their victims to do so if we don’t do anything for them. They really are an ignored part of our society….
July 24th, 2010 5:29 pm
Granny
I think the protesters should be sited for interfering with public safety. If we were witnessing a shoot out, and we pointed towards an alley to help the criminal escape, we would be in the slammer! If you think that’s an extreme example, then just imagine an innocent person being hit and killed, because the sign tipped off a drunk driver to take another street, therefore leaving him on the road to kill. The stupidity in this County just astounds me. All these ACLU people: you are really starting to kill the Golden Goose. What will you do when all the tax payers decide they have had enough and leave the area? Property values go down, revenues go down, then your “under privilaged” clients won’t have anyone to pay for their Pamper’s..
And you won’t have anyone to pay your salery…..
July 24th, 2010 5:45 pm
Robert
I agree with Mary! if you have something against these stops then it suggests you have something to hide or have some concerns about producing legal documentation?? but then again I am one of those holy than thou types, you know, the kind that pays taxes, rent, fees and such…
July 25th, 2010 12:30 pm