Canal Alliance

DUI checkpoints are intended to get drunken drivers off the road. This is a worthy goal that most people support; however across the state the intention has changed with the addition of driver's license checks that directly or indirectly target immigrant communities.

It works like this: A large percentage of the population, 2.6 million people, are ineligible to get a driver's licenses in California.

In some cities, neighborhoods where unauthorized people live are targeted by checkpoints, and many cars are taken from otherwise law-abiding families who have to pay large fines and storage fees, and often lose their cars because the value of the car is less than the costs of recovering it.

This is not to say that all DUI checkpoints in California have gone awry. In fact, San Rafael police, under the leadership of interim Chief Jeff Franzini, use tactics designed to assure that DUI checkpoints follow key principles articulated by the California Supreme Court in its approval of the use of checkpoints.

Unfortunately, many cities have moved away from the court's guidelines and because there is no statute on the books, they are free to operate checkpoints in any way they choose.

That is exactly the point of Assembly Bill 1389, which is on Gov. Jerry Brown's desk.

The bill would codify key principles established by the California Supreme Court to ensure integrity of checkpoints.

AB1389

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will require DUI checkpoints to be located in an area and at a time that is likely to turn up drunk drivers, not to target immigrant communities and exploit immigrants who cannot get driver's licenses.

People in Marin worked diligently with the San Rafael City Council and police to make recent changes in policy that will help ensure better communication and cooperation between local police and those living in our diverse and immigrant communities. We know from experience that questionable law enforcement practices can quickly cause community members to retreat into shells of distrust — a situation that does not serve the public safety interests of anyone.

In San Rafael, checkpoints are set up at the most dangerous intersections and in areas where the most DUI citations are issued and the most accidents happen, and those areas are often near two of the three entrances and exits of the Canal neighborhood.

Neighborhoods in other parts of the state, especially those with a high proportion of immigrants, are specifically targeted and DUI checkpoints established in ways that intentionally defy the spirit of the court's decision. In many locations DUI checkpoints net only a few DUI arrests and confiscate large numbers of cars from sober drivers.

This is a real problem, when you think the purpose of DUI checkpoints is to get drunken drivers off the road.

In too many cities in California, the location of checkpoints, the time of day they are conducted, and the arrests made at them is showing that DUI checkpoints have gotten seriously off track. These are the types of biased practices that have caused other states, including Texas, to ban completely the use of DUI checkpoints.

Checkpoints should be operated in a manner that accomplishes their primary goal of getting drunken drivers off the road. AB 1389 defines and codifies best practices for the implementation of checkpoints by municipalities, which will turn the focus back to the original worthy goal — to reduce drunken driving.

AB 1389 is on the Gov.Brown's desk. Please urge him to sign this bill to make our neighborhoods and streets safer and show real leadership where we need it.

Tom Wilson of Fairfax is the executive director of the Canal Alliance in San Rafael.