DUI checkpoints waste money

On our way home recently from the Music Hall, my wife and I were among the 1,670 vehicles inconvenienced by a road block and huge traffic jam when the police styled a “sobriety check.” It was at the north end of the Broadway Bridge and involved dozens of police officers and many patrol cars with flashing lights. It was quite a hullabaloo.

You may imagine our irritation when we read in The Star (4/20, Local) that all this intimidating uproar netted only 22 citations for driving under the influence and 13 other miscellaneous offenses over eight hours. I consider this to be a pitiful harvest over an eight-hour period. Thus, it appears to be a waste of taxpayer money.

Before any more is spent this way, the city’s auditor should follow these charges through the courts to their final result to determine how many citations result in actual convictions. With such information the procedure can be given a fresh and meaningful analysis to determine if it is worth doing.

Joe Williams
Kansas City

Comments

[Joe Six-Pack]

Actually they are directly protecting other innocent people for drunk drivers. Its a worthwhile effort. Now, vice cops, that is a waste of money. What good is a prostitution entrapment sting? Its not saving anyone. Its only the govt interfering with the freedoms of adults.

[Greyhounder]

Devin, no amount of the erosion of our right to be free from illegal searches by the police is worth it. Because each time we allow even one small inconvienence, such as being delayed for 1 hour, then its just a short wait until you'll be expected to tolerate 3 hour delays to save a life.

Our constitutional freedoms were won by people giving their lives... they should NEVER be given up to save lives.

[devin]

Yes, and how many drunk drivers are more likely to stay off roads in the first place knowing that law enforcement will use such extreme measures? The aggressive campaigns of groups like MADD and others that eventually got serious drunk driving legislation caused a drop in auto fatalities nationally of many thousands. The numbers bear out that the dip is strongly related to the drop in the number of accidents involving alcohol. So, it sucks that a bunch of people were inconvenienced for an hour or so, but if it means thousands fewer people die each year in auto accidents, that seems like a pretty small price to pay.