Why do we tell people about upcoming sobriety checkpoints?
Over the years, we’ve been asked repeatedly why we run notices about upcoming sobriety checkpoints. Some people don’t think we should warn anyone. They say that defeats their purpose because the drunks can avoid them.
Week after week, however, we run the the notices in the paper, on the Web site, and now on this blog. I’m the guy who types them up.
Not everyone thinks that's such a good idea. I received this email recently from Rancho Palos Verdes resident Robert Ackerman:
“From time to time the editor of the “Scanning the Area” page prints the scheduled police checkpoint times and locations. I am infuriated each time I read these.
I have no idea of any common sense behind this activity but to warn potential offenders of which areas to avoid. In this vein, I believe that the Daily Breeze is in fact aiding and abetting felons, and as such should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
The purpose of these checkpoints is to ensure the safety of the general public by capturing those people who are in violation of our laws. Publishing the locations and times before the fact defeats that purpose, but it does provide the offenders with valuable knowledge to avoid capture. Thus the Daily Breeze is actually abetting a criminal activity.
I suggest it would be far better to publish, in its place, a box score of captures or arrests by category, after the fact. This would demonstrate the effectiveness of these programs, and enhance their value in the public view.”
I also received a comment last week from a reader who wondered how we find out about the checkpoints.
Here’s the answers:
One required officers to issue advance publicity. In 1987, the court ruled that police had to announce their checkpoints in newspapers about 48 hours in advance.
When officers went to court, judges wanted to see the published notices.
So, South Bay officers would call the Breeze and ask us to run their checkpoint notices. An editor agreed to publish them as a public service.
In 1993, the court reversed its decision. The court said publicity was no longer constitutionally required, but said it made the checkpoints more effective.
Law enforcement officers asked us to continue running the notices. Officers believe they serve as a deterrent to drinking and driving.
Sure, some people might alter their routes to avoid the checkpoints — and we do get the occasional strange call here from people wanting to know where the checkpoints will be. I always wonder what kind of drunken night they have planned.
But officers regularly ask me to run the notices. They send over emails or faxes, and call up on the phone. We aren’t revealing anything they don’t want you to know.
In fact, police officers get upset if I get busy and forget to type them up.
Hope that answers the questions and concerns.
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About the Blogger
Larry Altman has covered crime in the South Bay since 1990. He's seen it all - the missing model who turned up dead in the desert, the wives found dead in trunks, the high-school coaches who get a little too close to their players. He drives his young colleagues nuts with his "I remember when" stories. He welcomes your tips and observations about the present, and you can mix in a little Lakers basketball talk if you like.
E-mail Larry at larry.altman@dailybreeze.com.
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About the Blogger
Denise Nix knew as young as grade school, when she spent every summer working on the camp newspaper, that she wanted to be a journalist. Denise has spent most of the last 12 years of her career in the courtroom. She joined the Daily Breeze in 2001, where she tracks and reports on hundreds of cases at every level of the justice system. And she's never, ever, seen a judge use a gavel.
E-mail Denise at denise.nix@dailybreeze.com.
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Good on you for publishing these police checkpoints for the reasons you cited and more. It is critical that in an open and free society that our government is continually accountable to the people. This public scrutiny of our authorities ultimately results in an institution less likely to curtail individual liberties. Thank you, DB, for keeping up your end of the citizenry's obligation. And as luck may have it, criminals are generally idiots and many probably do not read, so I highly doubt that such a publication would impede law enforcement's mission to stop the bad guys.
so where are the checkpoints for the upcoming days of 3/28-3/30?
Stay tuned. I haven't received any notices yet of the new ones.