The Labor Day holiday weekend almost always sees a spike in DUI arrests. Across the nation state and local police are getting ready for a busy holiday working to keep people safe from drunk drivers. In Birmingham, Alabama, law enforcement officials have already set up a number of checkpoints specifically for the period of time leading up to and extending through the Labor Day weekend. As part of the state’s “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” campaign, Birmingham police are joining officers throughout Alabama in running several more DUI checkpoints than in years past.
Sometimes these checkpoints can be intimidating to drivers. They delay traffic and have a very official and very overbearing look to them. But what should be understood about DUI checkpoints is that they are simply a means to reduce the number of drunk drivers on the roads and ultimately to keep people safe. And while they are of course perfectly legal, the officers who work these checkpoints have certain rules and procedures that they are required to adhere to in order to fully comply with local, state, and federal laws. That said, any citizen who is stopped at a DUI checkpoint needs to know what their rights are in that situation.
An experienced and knowledgeable DUI defense attorney should be able to closely review any case that involves DUI checkpoint protocol and whether or not proper protocol and procedure was followed leading up to an arrest. Officers are doing their job running these checkpoints by keeping the public safe, but that doesn’t negate the rights and civil liberties that belong to the people they are protecting.
