Claiborne Ferguson is THE Memphis DUI lawyer, with his practice, the Claiborne Ferguson Law Firm in Memphis, Tennessee, devoted to DUI defense and capital murder cases. Both require a vast knowledge of science and law, which is why he has extensive training in both areas. In this article, he discusses the legality of sobriety checkpoints, or road blocks.
Sobriety checkpoints or road blocks are one of law enforcement’s most common ways of interacting with drivers and searching for DUI offenders. Cities will routinely use them, especially on holidays and national sporting celebrations such as the Super Bowl.
The primary purpose for these checkpoints is to check for driving while impaired. As these checkpoints become more and more popular as a law enforcement technique, their frequency has increased on public roads. These checkpoints, however, must balance the legitimate need of police officers to ensure public safety while not infringing on any individual’s Fourth Amendment Rights against unreasonable searches and seizures.
Are Checkpoints Constitutional?
This test balances the public’s concerns against non-consensual police encounters with a degree that these interactions promote the public safety. Some states consider sobriety checkpoints constitutionally valid while other states do not.
Checkpoints set up solely for the purpose of detecting and investigating crimes are normally held to be unconstitutional. However, a checkpoint set up for a less intrusive purpose other than crime prevention is often held to be constitutional.
Other Reasons for Checkpoints
Examples of this could include checking to see if the drivers have valid driver’s licenses and valid tags, which might give the officer the chance to smell the odor of alcohol, which would probably be held as constitutional. Whereas checkpoints in which each and every driver was forced to breathe into that officer’s face to smell the odor of alcohol would clearly be unconstitutional.
Also, in most states if a driver decided not to proceed through the safety checkpoint, he must be provided with adequate notice of the approaching checkpoint and be allowed the opportunity to turn around and take an alternative route to his destination. Merely turning around should not provide probable cause for a police officer to initiate a stop of an otherwise legally operated vehicle.
