Walking the line

Editor’s note: The following story is part 1 in a three-part series on drunk driving. This week, we explore how the county’s police department conducts sobriety checks and what happens to motorists suspected of driving under the influence.

The Chesterfield Police Department recently held a sobriety checkpoint on South Enon Church Road between Loren Drive and Point of Rocks Road, netting two driving under the influence violations and several other lesser charges. Lisa Billings/Chesterfield Observer If you’re a drunk driver in Chesterfield County, Officer First Class Gary Bailey is the last person you want to see.

Bailey annually makes more arrests for driving under the influence (DUI) than a majority of officers throughout the commonwealth. Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) has honored him each of the last three years for his work on the front lines of the battle to keep impaired motorists off the streets.

“I think it’s extremely important to recognize officers’ efforts and know it is appreciated,” said Chris Konschak, executive director of MADD’s Virginia chapter. “A DUI arrest is one of the most complex arrests an officer can make. They’re going the extra mile, and we want them to know every time they take a drunk driver off the road, they’re potentially saving a life.”

Through the end of September, 923 people had been arrested for DUI in Chesterfield this year – an increase of 29 over the same time period in 2008. Of those offenders, 87 were under 21 years old, or 20 more than last year.

Alcohol-related crashes were down by 25, however, and fatalities were cut from five to three.

So the county’s police department remains vigilant in its attempts to educate the public about the dangers of drunk driving, make people aware of the consequences and enforce existing DUI statutes to reduce the danger to innocent citizens from those who choose to break the law.

Checkpoint controversy

Sobriety checkpoints have proven to be an effective element of the campaign. In the landmark 1990 case Michigan v. Sitz, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled such checkpoints constitutional because concerns about violating motorists’ Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure were outweighed by the state’s interest in saving lives.

A report in the December 2002 issue of Traffic Injury Prevention magazine chronicled a study by scientists from the Centers for Disease Control that showed sobriety checkpoints consistently reduced alcohol-related crashes by about 20 percent.

Still, 11 states – Alaska, Idaho, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Oregon, Rhode Island, Texas, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming – prohibit the use of checkpoints based on statutes or interpretation of state constitutions.

Civil libertarians have also launched Web sites dedicated to the cause of eliminating police checkpoints in the U.S. One such site, www.roadblock.org, is sponsored by the National Motorists Association and claims that “so-called ‘sobriety checkpoints,’ or seat belt checks, or the myriad of other excuses the government concocts to harass and intimidate its citizens through the use of roadblocks are, in our opinion unconstitutional and in direct contradiction to any honest definition of freedom.”

“We say the only reason you should be afraid of sobriety checkpoints is if you’re driving drunk,” Konschak said. “As long as you’re not driving drunk, it’s not going to slow you down too much. In fact, it’s beneficial. You don’t want to be on the road with someone who is impaired because all of our lives are at risk.”

Chesterfield County Police Sgt. J.J. Profita, a supervisor in the traffic section, noted the department is careful to operate checkpoints within constitutional limits, while also utilizing statistical data on past crashes and DUI arrests to determine the most effective locations for their implementation.

The department also publicizes upcoming checkpoints through local media, both to promote awareness among the general public and as a deterrent to motorists who otherwise wouldn’t think twice about getting behind the wheel after having too much to drink.

“The majority of people who come through a checkpoint are grateful. When we tell them what we’re doing, they’re very understanding and thankful that we’re there, and they express that to us,” Profita added.

Depending upon normal traffic flow at the location of a planned checkpoint, it could be one of two types: a low manpower checkpoint, which requires five or six officers and a supervisor, or a major checkpoint with 15 to 20 officers and two or three supervisors.

Regardless of the size of the checkpoint, officers don orange reflective vests prior to setting up traffic cones, flashing lights and flares – giving drivers plenty of notice before they encounter stopped traffic.

“We can see for long periods of time in either direction what’s coming at us,” Profita said. “We’ve had some crazy things happen, people have run into police cars. During DUIs, people will run into anything, so sometimes we’ll set up cars as a crash barrier so we don’t get taken out.”

While the objective is to identify impaired drivers and get them off the road, Profita noted that his first responsibility is the safety of his officers. That’s especially critical since most checkpoints take place in early morning hours after local bars close for the night.

“Anything you do at night is going to be more dangerous, just for the simple fact of darkness,” Bailey said.

A methodical process

Unlike routine DUI patrols, during which officers either are alerted to someone driving erratically or see it with their own eyes, checkpoints are set up to screen motorists who haven’t given any indication of impairment.

For that reason, officers are trained (both in the police academy and in continuing education programs after graduation) to identify signs that might seem like nothing to a casual observer.

DUI stops typically follow the same procedure, regardless of whether they’re carried out at a sobriety checkpoint or during a routine patrol. The first step is asking the motorist to produce a driver’s license and vehicle registration. This allows the officer to evaluate the driver’s physical dexterity and whether there is an obvious odor of alcohol coming from the car. The officer can also gain valuable information from how a driver answers questions during a brief interview session.

After the initial examination, if the officer has a reasonable suspicion that the driver is impaired, the driver is ordered to step out of the vehicle and participate in field sobriety testing. There are many varieties of such tests, from reciting the alphabet forward and backward to walking a straight line heel-to-toe, but all are designed to further aid officers in determining whether a DUI offense has been committed.

“There’s an order that I do [field sobriety tests] in, but another officer might do them in a different order. There’s no state mandate that says you have to do this one, this one, this one in this order,” Bailey said.

Added Profita: “It depends on the person and what they’re doing. It’s an observation. If the person is having a hard time talking, you might be interested in listening to their alphabet first versus seeing how well they walk.”

If, based on both the initial evaluation and field sobriety tests, an officer believes there is probable cause for a DUI charge, the motorist must be offered a preliminary breath test. This test is conducted on scene, and its results are not admissible in a court of law.

The driver is free to go if he/she agrees to take the breath test and passes it.

Refusing to take it carries the same result as a test result over the legal limit for blood-alcohol content: The driver is arrested, handcuffed and transported to either the county jail or the police department’s North Station on Providence Road.

Once there, the arrestee is informed of his Miranda rights and read section 18.2-268.2 of the Virginia code, the implied consent of anyone operating a vehicle within the commonwealth to undergo post-arrest breath and/or blood testing.

Blood tests are normally reserved for people who have been incapacitated as a result of an accident and are unable to perform the breath test. Everyone else uses the Intoxilyzer, a device that is maintained by the Division of Forensics and identifies alcohol in the blood through a process called infrared spectroscopy.

In Virginia, the legal limit for blood-alcohol content (BAC) is .08. BAC varies from person to person according to several factors, including height, weight and the amount of time elapsed between consumption of an alcoholic beverage and getting behind the wheel of an automobile.

While waiting for results from the Intoxilyzer test, the arresting officer must run the suspect’s criminal history and DMV transcript and fill out a criminal complaint form. With that information and the Intoxilyzer results in hand, the officer transports the suspect to the magistrate’s office.

The magistrate evaluates probable cause evidence presented by the officer and writes a warrant that is subsequently served on the suspect. Only after the officer transfers custody of the suspect to a sheriff’s deputy can he leave the building.

“If you show up to the magistrate’s office, and there are seven people waiting to see the magistrate ahead of you, it’s however long it takes the magistrate,” Bailey said.

That can mean several hours of unplanned overtime work for an officer who makes a DUI arrest at the end of his regular nine-hour shift.

For the suspect, however, the trouble has only just begun.