Opinion ID: 2604190
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Regulatory Purpose

Text: (6) Petitioners argue the sobriety checkpoint stop we examine here is a criminal investigation roadblock, subject not only to Tony C., supra, 21 Cal.3d 888, but barred by the Fourth Amendment under this court's decision in People v. Gale (1956) 46 Cal.2d 253 [294 P.2d 13]. (See also Wirin v. Horrall (1948) 85 Cal. App.2d 497 [193 P.2d 470].) In Gale, sheriff's officers stopped and searched cars at a roadblock explicitly for the purpose of `curb[ing] the juvenile problem and also check for, well, anything that we might find, anything that looked suspicious.' ( People v. Gale, supra, 46 Cal.2d 253, 255.) We do not agree. Dragnet searches, explicitly undertaken for the purpose of uncovering evidence of crime but without any reason to believe any criminal activity has taken place, are unreasonable. ( People v. Gale, supra, 46 Cal.2d 253, 256; Wirin v. Horrall, supra, 85 Cal. App.2d 497, 504.) However, the sobriety checkpoint here was operated not for the primary purpose of discovering or preserving evidence of crime or arresting lawbreakers, but primarily for the regulatory purpose of keeping intoxicated drivers off the highways to the end of enhancing public safety. Analytically it is much the same as an immigration checkpoint or a checkpoint to inspect for the safety of equipment or compliance with agricultural regulations. The threat to public safety is at least as great and the intrusion into Fourth Amendment interests is no greater here than in those other regulatory checkpoint inspections which have invariably been held constitutionally permissible. Our conclusion in this regard is based on factors related to the operation of the checkpoint in this case, on the stated goals of law enforcement agencies in implementing sobriety checkpoint programs, on the observable, albeit limited, experience with checkpoint operations in this and other states, as well as common sense. In the Burlingame program, the sobriety checkpoints received substantial advance publicity, which was clearly designed both to inform the public of the serious problem of drunk driving and to deter potential drinking drivers before they decided to drink and drive. An important part of the Burlingame procedure was to educate by giving each stopped driver a leaflet about the checkpoint program, as well as a survey postcard. In addition, the checkpoint was not conducted as a criminal dragnet. Checkpoint personnel were specifically instructed that drivers were not to be stopped merely for avoiding the checkpoint. [5] The road sign announcing the checkpoint was placed sufficiently in advance of the checkpoint that motorists could choose to avoid the checkpoint. The stated goals of several law enforcement agencies explicitly point to deterrence as a primary objective of the checkpoint program. The Burlingame manual described the objectives of its program, noting the historical use of roving patrols as the principal law enforcement response to the drunk driving problem. Despite increased patrols, public awareness campaigns, stiffer drunk driving penalties, and increased arrests, the Burlingame Police Department found the major problem was that the public's perceived (and actual) risk of apprehension was very low. Two major goals of the checkpoint as stated in the manual were to increase public awareness of the seriousness of the problem and to increase the perceived risk of apprehension. The evaluation report on the pilot project carried out by the California Highway Patrol (CHP) stated that, although a project of stepped up roving patrols in 1980 had resulted in approximately twice the number of arrests per work hour, it must be remembered that accomplishing more arrests is not the intent of sobriety checkpoints. Rather, they are intended to deter persons who have been drinking from driving for fear of encountering a checkpoint. If checkpoints are truly accomplishing their purpose, DUI arrests, as well as DUI accidents, should decrease. (Italics added.) In addition, the report recommended a six-month long-term study to be carried out in two CHP test areas. The report recommended using two different patterns of roadblock implementation  employing sobriety checkpoints during major holiday seasons at one test location, and using twice monthly checkpoints at the other location. Significantly, the recommendation report stated that This dual study method will not only permit long term evaluation of checkpoint deterrence, but may also identify the frequency necessary to produce deterrence. A sobriety checkpoint program operated by the Arizona Highway Patrol is assertedly designed to develop a public perception of the high risk of apprehension of drinking drivers, and the program abstract for the Maryland sobriety checkpoint project stated it was intended to function as a general deterrent to drinking drivers by instilling the perception that there was an increased likelihood of detection and arrest. An integral aspect of the Maryland program was publicity, to attain maximum public awareness and voluntary compliance with DUI laws. Not only is deterrence the stated objective of DUI roadblock programs, but actual, though admittedly limited, experience with checkpoint programs indicates deterrence is in fact a significant result of such programs. In written responses to interrogatories posed by the Court of Appeal in the instant case, Burlingame Police Chief Alfred Palmer pointed out that deterrent value was demonstrated in two test areas of the Maryland program: incidence of alcohol related traffic accidents was reduced by 71 percent in Prince Georges County and fatalities were reduced 75 percent in Montgomery County in 1981. The follow-up report relating to the Burlingame checkpoint noted that some level of deterrence was indicated by the facts that traffic volume fell considerably below normal during the last two hours of their checkpoint operation, that the volume of business in Burlingame bars was also significantly below normal after 10 p.m., that calls for taxicabs were 12 percent above normal, and that, as officers on duty at the checkpoint noticed, several cars with sober drivers but intoxicated passengers proceeded through the checkpoint (the designated driver phenomenon). In New York, the Governor's Alcohol and Highway Safety Task Force found `that the systematic... traffic checkpoint is the single most effective action in raising the community's perception of the risk of being detected and apprehended for drunk driving' (Report, at p. 103). ( People v. Scott (1984) 63 N.Y.2d 518 [483 N.Y.S.2d 649, 473 N.E.2d 1, 4-5].) Petitioners argue in their discussion of the balancing test that roadblocks are not effective for apprehending DUI violators, and point out that the CHP experience showed that roving patrols were over twice as effective as roadblocks per work hour in producing drunk driving arrests, and that the Burlingame checkpoint in fact resulted in no arrests. The absence of arrests, however, is both explained by and affords substantial support for the conclusion that increasing drunk driving arrests  i.e., conducting investigations for the purpose of gathering evidence of criminal activity  is not the primary purpose of sobriety checkpoints. An absence of arrests does not indicate a sobriety checkpoint is a futile exercise. It more likely indicates that the existence of the checkpoint program has succeeded in inducing voluntary compliance with the law, thus fulfilling the program's primary objective of keeping automobiles operated by impaired drivers off the roads. Drunk driving is not merely a crime, it is a serious public safety problem. A vehicle driven by an intoxicated person is as much a road hazard as a vehicle with defective brakes or a defective steering mechanism. Sobriety checkpoints serve to keep such hazardous instrumentalities off the road in the first instance. If checkpoints perform a significant deterrent function, it follows that drunk driving arrests would decrease in areas of checkpoint operation. It is perhaps the characteristic of the automobile as a hazardous instrumentality that affords the greatest distinction between the sobriety checkpoint and an impermissible criminal dragnet. While the sobriety checkpoint differs from, e.g., an agricultural inspection, because the item to be examined is a person and not an offending plant, nevertheless, the automobile is stopped for reasons directly related to public safety, and not for purposes of criminal investigation. In this sense it is as we have said analogous to a permissible equipment inspection checkpoint. The fact that the officer's observations of a driver's demeanor have the potential to result in criminal sanctions is not determinative. Just as an airport screening search may result in criminal arrests and prosecutions, but is nevertheless not a criminal investigative search, the sobriety checkpoint inspection primarily serves the proper regulatory purpose of deterring intoxicated persons from driving and thus endangering the public.