Sobriety checkpoints pass hurdle

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Police could set up sobriety checkpoints under a bill passed out of the Senate on Monday, but only in large urban counties under tightly controlled circumstances, sponsor Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas said Monday.

Although sobriety checkpoints have been legal across the country since 1990, Texas lawmakers have never been able to get a bill through the Legislature. The fear about the downside of checkpoints has dominated the discussion:

Would some people be subjected to harassment without probable cause? Would police departments choose to use the checkpoints to target, or punish, certain neighborhoods? And should innocent drivers, who have done nothing wrong, be forced to participate?

Monday on the Senate floor, during a sometimes heated hour-long debate, Carona said his bill, Senate Bill 298, is not intended to be a "gotcha" to catch drunk drivers. Instead, it should be a well-organized, well-publicized deterrent to potential drinkers in areas that had seen prior problems.

"The goal here is not to apprehend people," Carona said. "The goal is to deter people. That's why these are going to be well publicized and published in advance."

The National Transportation Safety Board has indicated the new Texas checkpoints could save up to 300 lives each year, said Carona.

Last session, Sen. Bob Deuell, R-Greenville, managed to pass a sobriety checkpoint bill out of the Senate, but it died in the House.

The conditions for checkpoints have been narrowed under the Carona bill:

The location must be tied to alcohol-related accidents or death. The location cannot be chosen with regard to ethnic or socioeconomic circumstances.

The bill also limits checkpoints to the 15 largest counties, because those law enforcement agencies have the staffing and sophistication to handle a large-scale operation, Carona said. Under the proposal, a pre-filed plan must be approved by either a sheriff or, in some cases, the mayor.

Checkpoints cannot occur in the same location more than once a year, and checks cannot be done in a haphazard manner, Carona said. Law enforcement must have a logical plan for stopping drivers, such as every fourth car.

Sen. Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa, D-McAllen said he would prefer to see the current standard maintained: probable cause. A police officer stops a driver because the driver might be speeding or weaving in and out of traffic or running stoplights. In the case of sobriety checkpoints, anyone can be stopped. Instead of "probable cause," the standard was being lowered to "reasonable suspicion," he said.

Carona said that is why the controls on the searches are so tight in his bill.

For instance, an officer is not allowed to ask for insurance or a driver's license when he stops a driver at a checkpoint. He is not allowed to search a vehicle. The sole standard under review is whether the driver is drunk. Also, all stops must be recorded on both audio and video. If the officer fails to record the arrest, that would be probable cause to throw out the case, Carona said.

Texas leads the nation in drunk driving deaths, Carona said. With the budget as it is, there won't be money to put more officers on the street. Instead, the state has to use new tools to decrease the incidence of drunk driving.

"We have to do something different than what we're doing today," Carona said.

The bill passed out of the Senate on a vote of 21-10. It now heads to the House.