ABI argues for more targeted patrols, not checkpoints
By Matt Grant
Tuesday, November 24, 2009 at 10:25 p.m.
Read more: Local, Crime, Business, Community, Drunk Driving, Checkpoint, DWI, MADD
JEFFERSON CITY -- Beginning Wednesday, mid-Missouri law enforcement will be out of in force to watch for drunk drivers over the holiday weekend.
But what's the best way to catch drunk drivers? Not DWI checkpoints, according to the American Beverage Institute, which says sobriety stops are ineffective and a waste of money.
"There's no proof that [checkpoints] deter drunk drivers," said Sarah Longwell with the ABI. "When they talk about deterrent, I think of it more as a publicity stunt."
The ABI, a trade group that represents restaurants serving alcohol, also lobbies against lowering the legal drinking limit.
The group cites statistics from last year in California where a million people passed through checkpoints but only one-third of one percent were arrested for drunk driving.
Predictably, police agencies and Mothers Against Drunk Driving disagree, saying checkpoints save lives.
"If you even arrest one drunk at a checkpoint and you keep someone from being injured or killed," said Lt. John Hotz with the Highway Patrol. "How can you put a price tag on that?"
The Highway Patrol points to their own stats. In Camden County last summer one in 10 was arrested for drunk driving during an evening checkpoint.
"MADD's been present at a number of [checkpoints] since the mid-80s," said Bud Balky with MADD. "So we know they work, they're effective."
The ABI isn't entirely opposed to law enforcement crackdowns.
Longwell says police would be better served using "roving patrols," or saturations, where cops go out and look for drunk drivers instead of setting up checkpoints.
"You would expect that kind of targeted enforcement would result in more arrests than the idea of pulling these cops off the streets, have them stand in one spot," said Longwell, "in the hopes that a drunk driver's gonna wander through."
KRCG News checked and most mid-Missouri police agencies say they already do saturations in addition to checkpoints.
The Highway Patrol points to public opinion polls which they say indicate more than 80 percent of Missourians favor DWI checkpoints.
