State and local police made several arrests at a DUI checkpoint in York County Saturday night.
The checkpoint was set up on the 83 business loop heading toward South George Street in Spring Garden Township from about 10:00 p.m. Saturday to 3:00 a.m. Sunday.
“We’ve selected this place numerous times just because of the fact that Interstate 83 in York County has always been, in recent years, and still remains to be a very high area of DUI arrests and DUI crashes,” said Lt. Frederick Hess of the Pennsylvania State Police.
Police nabbed 20 people for drunk driving and took ten more into custody for drug charges.
With each checkpoint they set up, police say they hope to catch fewer and fewer people driving under the influence.
“Our goal would be to have zero in a perfect world. We would love nothing more than to be setting up out here for four, five hours and have everybody come through sober,” Hess said.
3 Comments to “Police make several arrests at York County sobriety checkpoint”
March 18, 2013 at 12:05 AM
Lt. Hess,
You ARE "catching" fewer and fewer because people text and call around to everyone they know and to bartenders to let everyone at the bar know where you set up. The DUI Checkpoint has become obsolete. You are only "catching" a very small number of DUI drivers compared to the number that could be stopped by using the manpower resources individually and the monies to get more individual patrols on the road.
There are probably 150 DUI drivers who pass though that stretch in the 5 hours you were set up but the rest were made aware that your team was there and instead took the back roads from the Leader Heights or S. Queen St. exits, so you placed more DUI drivers in the residential neighborhoods. Besides, setting up in the same location over and over has probably made more DUI drivers avoid the stretch altogether.
I was stopped twice along that stretch (and was not under the influence) and now I avoid it so I don't have to be delayed with flashlights and questions anymore.
March 18, 2013 at 12:37 AM
@HowIgnorant at least they got 20 people! If they could do this every weekend but set up in different locations, that would be over 1000 people every year.
March 18, 2013 at 1:16 AM
What's the use when many DUI's are repeat offenders…what is needed are longer sentences and higher fines! ACLU, sit down and shut up. The life you save could be yours!