According to an investigation by the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley along with California Watch, DUI sobriety checkpoints throughout Southern California are starting to turn into cash cows for our law enforcement officials, who are more than likely to seize the automobile of an unlicensed motorist rather than an intoxicated driver.

Impounds from the checkpoints generated roughly $40 million in towing fees and police fines in 2009. The investigation found that police officers received about $30 million in overtime pay while on duty at the checkpoints.

Most of the impounded vehicles where those belonging to minorities—majority being illegal immigrants, the investigation also found that:

  • DUI checkpoints and screenings were common at, within, or near Hispanic neighborhoods. Checkpoints and screenings at these neighborhoods are more than likely to seize three times more cars than cities with small minority populations. Law enforcement officials at South Gate, which has a Hispanic population of 92 percent, seized an average of 86 vehicles per operation this past fiscal year.
  • Although the seizure of vehicles at DUI checkpoints are supposed to focus on intoxicated drivers, seizures today appear to be defying a 2005 federal appellate court ruling, which is that law enforcement officials are not allowed to impound cars because the driver does not have a license. Law enforcement officials at DUI checkpoints are seizing more and more cars every year. In 2009, more than 24,000 vehicles were impounded at checkpoints. Vehicle seizures also went up by 53 percent when compared to 2007.
  • DUI checkpoints are starting to become over flooded with law enforcement officials, who are all receiving overtime. At each checkpoint last year, the Moreno Valley Police Department in Riverside County had an average of 38 law enforcement officials, which is six times more than what the federal guidelines state. About 50 other local agencies throughout California have had an average of 20 law enforcement officials or more at each checkpoint, averaging three DUI arrests every night.