Se habla Español | Wir sprechen Deutsch | Mówimy po polsku
Spanish Translation German Translation Polish Translation
Contact us for your initial consultation
847.577.8700
posted on 9/3/17

Most DUI cases begin with a traffic stop, and although the evidentiary standard is low in these situations, officers still need specific, articulable facts to justify their decisions. Many times, these facts are simply not available, at least at the requisite level.

In other situations, especially around Labor Day Weekend and other holidays that involve lots of vehicle travel, officers set up DUI checkpoints to round up intoxicated motorists. Somewhat similarly to one-on-one stops, these checkpoints must comply with many technical rules, and noncompliance in just one area can completely invalidate the checkpoint and any stops made.

Traffic Stops

Typically, the officer sees a violation, and that violation justifies the stop. Truth be told, even the most cautious drivers cannot travel more than a mile or two without breaking at least one traffic law, such as traveling at one or two miles per hour over the speed limit, not stopping completely at a stop sign, or signalling 95 feet before changing lanes instead of 100 feet. Moreover, many of routine stops are for mechanical infractions such as a burned-out taillight or a license plate frame that partially obscures the information on the plate.

However, in other situations, the officer is not on regular patrol, but on special DUI patrol. These officers are actively searching for intoxicated motorists, and as the old saying goes, people who look for trouble usually find it. Officers who are told to go to a certain area and make as many DUI arrests as possible usually do just that.

While DUI patrol, which is sometimes known as STEP (Selective Traffic Enforcement Program) patrol, may not be enough to completely invalidate the stop, it is often enough evidence to cast the officer in a negative light.

In a few other situations, the officer does not observe any criminal activity at all, but rather receives a tip about illegal activity. Under existing law, judges evaluate these tips for reliability based on a totality of the circumstances. Such analysis includes:

  • Specificity: Particularly in heavy traffic areas, a tip like “an eastbound SUV” could refer to about half the vehicles on the road. In contrast, information like “an eastbound white SUV” is much more specific.
  • Time: Tips, especially those about motorists driving erratically and other common DUI tips, have short shelf lives, so if such a tip is more than a few minutes old, it is probably stale and therefore unreliable.
  • Source: Tips from other officers are almost 100% reliable, tips from paid or disreputable informants are almost 100% unreliable, and everything else falls somewhere in between.

The ends do not justify the means. In other words, prosecutors cannot use a DUI arrest to justify an unreliable tip.

DUI Roadblocks

After several years of back and forth, the Supreme Court formally legalized DUI checkpoints in 1990s Michigan State Police v. Sitz, so long as these checkpoints meet specific criteria including:

  • All aspects of the checkpoint, including the location, duration, manner of stopping vehicles, and everything else, must come from a supervisor. Officers on the street can have absolutely no discretion when it comes to any of these elements.
  • Vehicles must be stopped according to a neutral formula. Officers cannot allow some vehicles through unmolested and detain others because of a gut feeling.
  • The formula must minimize motorist delay. As a rule of thumb, any delay longer than about two minutes is probably unreasonable, so officers at most checkpoints usually stop every third or fourth vehicle to ask for driver’s licenses and other such paperwork.
  • Motorists must have the option of taking another route to avoid the checkpoint. So, the checkpoint must be advertised several days in advance (a note on the police website probably does not count) or there must be adequate signage that allows motorists to turn around before they get stuck in traffic.

You have rights at these checkpoints. While you must present a driver’s license upon demand, you do not have to roll down your window and interact with the officer. However, if you assert these rights, expect to be followed for at least a few blocks.

Count on Assertive Lawyers

If the stop is illegal, any subsequent developments, including the arrest, are also illegal. For a confidential consultation with an experienced criminal law attorney in Schaumburg, contact Glasgow & Olsson.

(image courtesy of Nabeel Syed)