Most people assume DUI checkpoints exist to catch impaired drivers. According to a Bakersfield police lieutenant, that has never been the primary goal.
Lt. Mitch Galland of the Bakersfield Police Department’s traffic division said the core function of DUI checkpoints has always been education and deterrence — a point reinforced at a recent annual symposium hosted by the Office of Traffic Safety.
“It’s a high-profile deterrent event, right? Reminds everybody that we’re out here, that we’re looking for certain things,” Galland said. “It’s educational, trying to explain to people the problems with their, you know, with drinking and driving, but other things as well. And then, yeah, if we find DUI drivers or we find drivers without licenses or with felony warrants, then by all means we’ll take action, but that’s really not our primary focus.”…