Update on the Wrongheadedness of DUI Checkpoints
When I wrote yesterday of the foolishness of numerous cops spending untold tax dollars stopping and delaying hundreds of motorists last Friday night to catch 7 allegedly intoxicated drivers, I didn't realize how bad it was.
Over at the always informative Capt. Spaulding's World (a newsy blog), I learned that "Meanwhile that same night- several police patrol zones were "blacked out"- or had no cars available to run calls."
Can you believe that insanity? While hundreds of innocent citizens were experiencing an unwelcome, warrantless, probable-cause-free, police intrusion into their evening, other citizens who actually needed police services were left as voices crying in the wilderness.
Not a nickle more for the wasteful Police Department until it stops wasting our tax dollars!
Not a nickle more for the wasteful Police Department until it uses the money we do giv it to protect citizens instead of hassling them.
Labels: government waste, kansas city, police
posted by Dan at 4/03/2008 06:01:00 AM
7 Comments:
Ah, security theater. It's so amusing.
Hmmm, so, what's your opinion on how the smoking ban should be enforced then?
How about on the basis of citizen complaints, by cops who aren't tied up in stupid, inefficient, intrusive checkpoints?
Dan,
These checkpoints usually do not take away from regular patrol operations. They are generally funded by special federal and state grants, which pay overtime wages for the police officers who work the checkpoints.
If they weren't working they checkpoint, the officers would otherwise be off duty. They've already worked their 40 hours for the week, so this is extra.
Eric, if true you have some additional insight I was unaware of. Interesting.
Regardless of how the DUI checkpoints are funded, the foundations of the KCPD coverage problem to me are threefold.
Just talk with KCPD middle management and they'll tell you the two basic problems:
(1) KCPD is an unthinking, 9-1-1- driven machine. That's how crime is managed for the most part in this town. Proactive patrols are at the mercy of dispatch activity. 9-1-1 calls govern the system.
This is how in works: Step 1: 9-1-1dispatches cause an instant focus on an area. Step 2: Crime moves from that area to a new area. Begin again with Step 1.
(2) Funding & more police officers.
I'll add the third:
(3) top level and mid-level management that will not do anything that will jepoadize their pensions.
This is a complex issue, but if you have to boil it down, and wonder why it you're on hold 15 mins when you dial 9-1-1 on a Saturday night and you wonder about other things, it's because the problem is:
KCPD is a 9-1-1 and retirement- driven machine that is also short on police officers.
Dan, we agree on something. Stats show saturation patrols are much more effective than checkpoints. Of course MADD is the force behind these stops, along with the cops who want the overtime.
Overall, alcohol does impair driving but so does prescription meds, lack of sleep and things like applying make up, texting or talking on the phone. We also know that alcohol effects people differently. I have seen guys drink a 12 pack and look and act normal while Ive seen women barely walk after 2 glasses of wine. Knowing that, it makes no sense to stop someone who otherwise is obeying all driving laws, and tell them "sorry you cannot be driving" but makes tons of sense to throw the book at someone involved in an accident where alcohol is present. Finally, a huge majority of fatalities related to alcohol involve chronic repeat offenders, not the person blowing a .08 (2 drinks in 1 hour)
This be easy duty on the check points so please refrain from bad mouthing them or we will have to work, which means we will be in a bad mood. Remember that scum bags!
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