DUI Checkpoint Runs Saturday and Sunday

The Long Beach Police Department will be conducting a DUI checkpoint to from 7 p.m. Saturday until 3 a.m. Sunday in the south Long Beach area, it was announced.

"Checkpoints have proven to be an effective enforcement tool in reducing the number of persons killed and injured in alcohol-involved crashes, and research shows that crashes involving alcohol drop by an average of 20 percent when well-publicized checkpoints are conducted regularly," states a department press release.

Officers will check drivers through the stopping point for signs of driving impairment, be it drugs or alcohol, and also will  check licenses and registration.

While the press release states that drivers caught impaired should expect jail, license suspension, insurance increases, as well as fines, fees, driving under the influence (DUI) classes, and other expenses that can exceed $10,000, DUI results issued by Long Beach Police Department show that most of the results are in non-DUI citations and single digit arrests.

But "over the course of the past three years, DUI collisions have claimed 14 lives and resulted in 306 injury crashes harming 437 of our friends and neighbors,” said Sergeant Douglas Bender.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), checkpoints have provided the most effective documented results of any of the DUI enforcement strategies, while also yielding considerable cost savings of $6 for every $1 spent. 

To read the full release click here.

Funding for this checkpoint is provided to the department by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. For more information, please contact Long Beach Police Department Traffic Section Sergeant, Douglas Bender at (562) 570-7484.