Top 7 things Cops cannot make you do at DUI check point.

Top 7 things Cops cannot make you do at DUI check point. Am not a lawyer, but I was a cop and was involved in law enforcement for 16 years.

            Picture from 1993'. Am 23 years old. Going up                                       with Los Angeles Sheriff's Department. 

I don't agree with drunk drivers but you have to look at the whole picture. It's doing more harm then good.

They rarely catch motorists who are under the influence. They averaged only three DUI arrests or less a night. It's violation of civil liberties. It’s an illegal search. Only reason they have checkpoints is it's a lucrative operation for law enforcement agencies and government to make lots of money when they catch and impound unlicensed drivers. CA last year generated an estimated $60 Million in fees from check points. Owners who recover their vehicles pay between $1,000 and $4,000 in tow and storage charges and fines assessed by local governments. Also the state contributes from tax payers money $30 Million in funds to pay for checkpoints. $10 million dollars in overtime fees. LAPD spent $16,200 per checkpoint.  

Last year, officers impounded more than 24,000 cars and trucks at checkpoints. That total is seven times higher than the 3,200 drunken driving arrests at roadway operations. Police are impounding more cars from sober drivers with no insurance, broken tail lights and fix it tickets than drunken drivers at sobriety checkpoints, which earn tens of millions of dollars. 

The percentage of vehicle seizures has increased 53 percent statewide, not from DUI drivers but unlicensed drivers, no insurance. Its the biggest waste of taxpayers money, it takes officers away from patrol. Federal traffic safety agency advises each check point use six officers. Agencies frequently over staff checkpoints, so all officers earn overtime. Last year Riverside County averaged 38 officers,  California averages 20 or more officers per checkpoint. LAPD sent 35 officers, on average to each check point, Now wouldn't you rather have 35 officers patrol the streets looking for drunk drivers covering more square miles then have them in one spot. 

FIRST THING YOU DO IS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS ASK, “AM I BEING DETAINED, OR AM I FREE TO LEAVE?” Keep repeating it. At least three times. I’LL EXPLAIN LATER BELOW. Make sure you video tape or at least record conversation on cell phone.

      1) You DO NOT have to answer any questions. If they ask “Have you been drinking, where you coming from, where you going?” You simple say “I respectfully decline to answer any questions without my lawyer present.

      2) You DO NOT have to perform any field sobriety test. The 9 step walk the line, the one leg in the air, etc.  

      3) You DO NOT have to take the pre-arrest handheld breathalyzer test. Known as PAS test.

      4) You DO NOT have to exit your vehicle. Unless they have reasonable cause you show signs of alcohol use.

      5) You DO NOT have to roll down your window. Open window only 2 inches, just enough they could hear you.

      6) You DO NOT have to enter the DUI check point. You can turn around any time before you reach the DUI check point sign. As long as you do not commit any traffic violations in the course of turning around, they can’t stop you.

      7) Passengers DO NOT have to show ID. If asked. No matter what they tell/threaten you, don’t do it.

Back to the “AM I FREE TO LEAVE.” Most people will just stop, roll the window all the way down, start talking like a broken record player. That gives officers all the reasons to say “I smelled alcohol, drugs coming from the vehicle”. "They saw you're eyes were glossy or watery, had slurred speech." When you stop, you’re in a voluntary encounter. You have no protection.

Now, if you ask the above question, Cop answers “yes”, you are detained. That puts you under the fourth Amend. Anything that happens after that statement is made, like telling you to exit vehicle, any search of vehicle, you’re arrested for; DUI, drugs found, gun in automobile, dead body in the trunk. Cops will say in court it was a voluntary encounter. We didn’t need probable cause. 

Now, you can show that the Cop had you detained, because the cop now has to show what probable cause he had to detain you. Most of the time they have none, it was what you said and did that landed you in jail. 

Anything they did or found in vehicle will be suppressed in court and charges dropped. Officers need to have reasonable suspicion to ask you out of the car, and give you a sobriety test.

Watch this video below. You will see immediately how the Cops starts to accuse the driver after he lowered the window and made up reasons for probable cause to exit the automobile.

  

SOME CALIFORNIA VEHICLE CODES - VEH

DIVISION 1. WORDS AND PHRASES DEFINED 

C.V.C. 14607.6 

 A peace officer shall not stop a vehicle for the sole reason of determining whether the driver is properly licensed.

  

C.V.C. 234. 

A “business” includes a proprietorship, partnership, corporation, and any other form of commercial enterprise.

(Added by Stats. 1990, Ch. 1563, Sec. 1.)

DIVISION 1. WORDS AND PHRASES DEFINED [100 - 681]

  ( Division 1 enacted by Stats. 1959, Ch. 3. )

  

C.V.C. 246.  

A “certificate of compliance” for the purposes of this code is an electronic or printed document issued by a state agency, board, or commission, or authorized person, setting forth that the requirements of a particular law, rule or regulation, within its jurisdiction to regulate or administer has been satisfied.
(Amended by Stats. 1999, Ch. 1007, Sec. 15. Effective January 1, 2000.)

C.V.C. 260.

(a) A “commercial vehicle” is a motor vehicle of a type required to be registered under this code used or maintained for the transportation of persons for hire, compensation, or profit or designed, used, or maintained primarily for the transportation of property.

(b) Passenger vehicles and house cars that are not used for the transportation of persons for hire, compensation, or profit are not commercial vehicles. This subdivision shall not apply to Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 6700) of Division 3.

(c) Any vanpool vehicle is not a commercial vehicle.

(d) The definition of a commercial vehicle in this section does not apply to Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 15200) of Division 6.

(Amended by Stats. 2003, Ch. 222, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2004.)

C.V.C. 305.

A “driver” is a person who drives or is in actual physical control of a vehicle.

C.V.C. 310.

A “driver’s license” is a valid license to drive the type of motor vehicle or combination of vehicles for which a person is licensed under this code or by a foreign jurisdiction.

(Amended by Stats. 1971, Ch. 213.)

C.V.C. 410.

A “motor truck” or “motortruck” is a motor vehicle designed, used, or maintained primarily for the transportation of property.

(Amended by Stats. 1993, Ch. 272, Sec. 11. Effective August 2, 1993.)

C.V.C. 415.

(a) A “motor vehicle” is a vehicle that is self-propelled.

(b) “Motor vehicle” does not include a self-propelled wheelchair, motorized tricycle, or motorized quadricycle, if operated by a person who, by reason of physical disability, is otherwise unable to move about as a pedestrian.

(c) For purposes of Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 3000) of Division 2, “motor vehicle” includes a recreational vehicle as that term is defined in subdivision (a) of Section 18010 of the Health and Safety Code, but does not include a truck camper.

(Amended by Stats. 2004, Ch. 404, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2005.)

C.V.C. 465.

A “passenger vehicle” is any motor vehicle, other than a motortruck, truck tractor, or a bus, as defined in Section 233, and used or maintained for the transportation of persons. The term “passenger vehicle” shall include a housecar.

(Amended by Stats. 1999, Ch. 1008, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2000.)

C.V.C. 470.

 “Person” includes a natural person, firm, copartnership, association, limited liability company, or corporation.

(Amended by Stats. 1994, Ch. 1010, Sec. 225. Effective January 1, 1995.)

C.V.C. 505.2. 

(b) “Registration service” does not include the following:

(1) A person performing registration services on a vehicle acquired by that person for his or her own personal use or for use in the regular course of that person’s business.

C.V.C. 670.

A “vehicle” is a device by which any person or property may be propelled, moved, or drawn upon a highway, excepting a device moved exclusively by human power or used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks.

(Amended by Stats. 1975, Ch. 987.)

C.V.C. 681.

  a) “Real ID driver’s license or identification card” means a driver’s license or identification card that has been issued by a state that has been certified by the Department of Homeland Security to be in compliance with the requirements of the Real ID Act of 2005 (Public Law 109-13) and the regulations adopted pursuant to the act.

(b) This section shall become operative on January 1, 2018.

(Added by Stats. 2016, Ch. 339, Sec. 3. Effective September 13, 2016. Section operative January 1, 2018, by its own provisions.)

C.V.C. 21100.4.

 (4) The impounding agency, within two working days of impoundment, shall send a notice by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the legal owner of the vehicle, at an address obtained from the department, informing the owner that the vehicle has been impounded and providing the owner with a copy of the warrant or court order. Failure to notify the legal owner within two working days shall prohibit the impounding agency from charging for more than 15 days’ impoundment when a legal owner redeems the impounded vehicle.

C.V.C. 21100.

Local authorities may adopt rules and regulations by ordinance or resolution regarding all of the following matters:

(a) Regulating or prohibiting processions or assemblages on the highways.

(b) Licensing and regulating the operation of vehicles for hire and drivers of passenger vehicles for hire.