They might be more successful if they didn't tell people where and when....

SOUTHWESTMINSTER - you are right! I'll add, if they really wanted to make a impact, they should be doing this more often, like every weekend, please!

Just to add: they don't need a "Grant" to do their jobs.

Um, given that it takes at least 10 officers to run a checkpoint (even more on a multi-lane highway like 140, it is more than run of the mill traffic patrol work and does need additional funding. I suspect they probably get more dui stops on their regular Friday and Saturday night patrols than they do on these checkpoints. The purpose of publicizing them, they say, is to make people in that area think twice before drinking and driving on at least that one night. Depends on how many alternate routes there will be between bars and home as to how beneficial it is.

I agree...it shouldn't take grant for cops to do their jobs.

Where are the Self Proclaimed "Keepers of the American Constitution" Carroll County Commissioners?

Surely, these checkpoints are against the 4th Amendment, Why do the "Keepers of the Constitution" allow them to occur in Carroll County?

Steve, while I think they are poor uses of limited resources, numerous courts have upheld them as constitutional. The gang of 5 prefers to tilt at windmills that have not yet been fully adjudicated by the courts, apparently.

The Sheriff's Office has announced that, due to forecasts for inclement weather and potentially hazardous driving conditions, the sobriety checkpoint scheduled for tomorrow evening has been cancelled. The article is updated to reflect this information.

I asked the same question about why a sobriety checkpoint is announced and I was told they HAVE to do that. Kym, can you confirm this?

Gr8, I think that's what helps it pass "constitutional" muster. Prior knowledge gives people the option to avoid it. I THINK (I'm not a lawyer and I don't play one on TV) that's how the courts have decided its not an unreasonable search.

on behalf of the drunk drivers I am sure they thank you.maybe you should announce drug busts ahead of time also,and don't foget about undercover stings either

justiceforall,
Drug busts are based on search warrants that are based on reasonable cause. Please explain to me the "reasonable cause" to stop several hundred cars for 4 dui arrests and 1 illegal weapon arrest, as was the recent result in Harford County. Especially when a checkpoint requires at least 10 officers who could probably arrest twice as many impaired drivers on routine patrol on a Friday or Saturday night.

The primary reason for notifying the public about checkpoints is that doing so is required by law. In 1990, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that, while checkpoints do not violate the U.S. Constitution, it is necessary to follow certain guidelines when planning and executing such an event. Publicizing the checkpoint is one such guideline.

This, the court said, is because the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution requires that police have a justifiable suspicion of driver intoxication or some other reasonable basis for pulling a vehicle over and conducting a search. By notifying the public of checkpoints, the police are essentially giving fair notice to drivers and satisfying the Fourth Amendment in the process. If the public did not have sufficient notice that they could be stopped by police for essentially no reason, the checkpoint would constitute an unconstitutional detention without reasonable suspicion.