The Santa Ana Police Department will be conducting a DUI/Drivers License checkpoint on Friday, August 8th, 2014. It will begin at 9:00PM and is scheduled to conclude at 3:00AM. It will be conducted in the area of 800 E First Street, Santa Ana, CA.
For some unknown reason the SAPD did not release notice of this DUI Checkpoint via the City of Santa Ana’s Nixle service. Instead the press release was announced on the SAPD’s Facebook Page.
The SAPD barely catches any drunks at these checkpoints. The truth is that select police officers are chosen to work the checkpoints where they earn a huge overtime bonus. The money for this comes from the State of California. Think of this as a gift to the police unions. It is not however effective policing.
The truth is that most drunks in Santa Ana are caught up in the course of normal policing although adding extra bike officers around Downtown Santa Ana would be a great way to catch drunks.
The other side of the coin is that the SAPD harasses immigrants at these checkpoints. That has been going on for years. We now have an all Latino City Council, a Latino City Manager and a Latino Chief of Police and yet these ridiculous checkpoints continue unabated and the cops keep cashing their overtime checks. Some things never change!
