San Rafael Residents Demand Hearing on DUI Checkpoints
On July 21, 2008, activists from the San Rafael community gathered in front of the city council to demand a public hearing examining the fairness of DUI checkpoints in the city. Even though the issue was not on the agenda, both opponents and supporters gathered to debate DUI checkpoints during open time. Debate centered on the Canal neighborhood checkpoint, which some community members believe was rife with ethnic profiling and intended to locate unlicensed illegal immigrants. The city council denied the request for a hearing, noting that the community should voice their concerns to the police department.
One week before, on June 13, 2008, officers with the San Rafael Police Department arrested forty-seven drivers at a checkpoint held at East Francisco Boulevard and Grand Avenue in the Canal neighborhood. The checkpoint was conducted from 6pm to 11pm and then moved to Irwin Street between Fourth and Fifth Avenue until 1:30am. Four of the forty-seven arrested drivers were booked for driving under the influence, while thirty-nine were arrested for driving without a license.
The United States Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court upheld sobriety checkpoints as constitutional. According to the 1987 California Supreme Court decision in Ingersoll v. Palmer (1987) 43 Cal.3d 1321, several procedures must be followed for a checkpoint to meet constitutional requirements.
In response to critics who said that the placement of the checkpoint suggested that law enforcement was targeting illegal immigrants, the San Rafael Police Department maintained that checkpoint locations are chosen based on statistics regarding accidents, drunk driving arrests, traffic incidents, and officer and motorist safety in locations around the city. The San Rafael Police Department and supporters of checkpoints argue that they keep drunk drivers off the road and protect the community. Fourteen checkpoints have been conducted in San Rafael since 2005.
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