This past weekend, on Saturday November 15, the California Highway Patrol (CHP) announced that it has received a federal grant to help fund additional efforts in enforcing drunk and drugged driving laws. According to officials, the CHP plans to use the "Reduced Impaired Driving" grant for the following efforts through September of next year:
- 150 Sobriety Checkpoints
- 75 DUI Task Force Operations
- Proactive DUI Enforcement Patrols
- Approximately 100 Safety Presentations / Events
The federal grant – provided from the California Office of Traffic Safety and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration – is a substantial source of funds to aid CHP troopers in cracking down on impaired driving, which causes numerous accidents, injuries, and fatalities in California. According to the CHP, alcohol-involved collisions kill roughly 1,000 people in California alone each year. The CHP is a law enforcement agency that has jurisdiction over all California highways, and it has a special interest in reducing DUI-related incidents on roads where vehicles travel at high rates of speed.
The CHP's website devotes several programs to increased DUI enforcement. Checkpoint operations, for example, involve targeted areas where officers will stop vehicles to monitor drivers for impairment. Checkpoints often take place on surface streets and near freeway or highway onramps / off-ramps. Proactive overtime enforcement and task force programs both involve a significantly increased number of officers who conduct DUI patrols at times and locations with high rates of DUI incidents.
At Lessem, Newstat & Tooson, LLP, our Los Angeles DUI lawyers represent many clients who have been stopped and arrested for DUI at checkpoints or during periods of increased enforcement. We are familiar with these programs and the types of errors law enforcement can make in their eagerness to increase arrest numbers. We serve clients throughout Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara and other Southern California communities.
If you have questions about your arrest and case, and how our legal team can help you, contact our firm today.
