When I was in college, I was on the cross country and track team. Everyone lived close to campus, and when it came time to meet up for runs at local parks, it wasn’t all that uncommon to hop in your car for the two minute drive around the block or down the road in order to meet up with the rest of the team. Occasionally, people would forget to grab their wallets, but it wasn’t a huge deal.

One day, I was about to jump in my car when I realized that I had forgotten my wallet, which contained my driver’s license. Even though my apartment was located (literally) right around the block from the local park, I decided not to risk it, and boy was I glad that I didn’t because when I turned the corner, I saw that there was a line of cars that were stopped and police officers were conducting a driver’s license checkpoint. I was shocked to see a pretty lengthy line of people pulled over to the side where officers were writing them tickets for not having their license on them as well as various other indiscretions.

Years later, when I became a police officer, we would conduct not-so random DUI checkpoints at various busy intersections or roads where we knew that people were known to have driven drunk. Of the people that we arrested, some were people who were legitimately intoxicated while others just happened to be caught at the wrong time without a license.

Depending on the officer, not having a valid driver’s license on you IS actually an arrestable offense. However, for the slightly less antagonistic officers, the unlicensed driver would be forced to pull their vehicle over to the side of the road, park it and then figure out a way home. But are DUI checkpoints all that they are made out to be? There are some citizens who complain that DUI checkpoints are not only an inconvenience, but they wind up costing taxpayers millions of dollars in towing fees as well as police fines nationwide. What is your opinion?

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