| Roadblocks: | | | | to all motorists passing by the roadblock which limits |
| What types of Roadblocks allowed? | | | | the discretion of the officers in deciding who to stop. |
| Roadblocks have been established to be "seizures" | | | | The intrusiveness on individual motorists must be |
| under the Fourth Amendment. The Fourth Amendment | | | | limited. The detention of motorists is brief, |
| states that a person should be free from | | | | encompassing only a few questions which allow the |
| unreasonable searches and seizures of their person | | | | officer to observe objective signs of intoxication. In |
| and their belongings, absent individualized suspicion of | | | | addition, officers will shine their flashlights into the |
| wrongdoing. The touchstone for all issues under the | | | | vehicle in order to observe any alcoholic beverages. |
| Fourth Amendment is reasonableness. Federal | | | | The Supreme Court has ruled that this intrusion on the |
| constitutional principles require a showing of either the | | | | individual is slight in comparison to the value to society |
| officer's reasonable suspicion that a crime has | | | | in keeping drunk drivers off the road. |
| occurred or is occurring or alternatively that the seizure | | | | Drug Roadblocks |
| is carried out pursuant to a plan embodying explicit, | | | | The Supreme Court holds that roadblocks whose |
| neutral limitations on the conduct of individual officers. | | | | primary purpose is to detect evidence of ordinary |
| California constitutional principles are based on the | | | | criminal activity are unconstitutional, and therefore illegal. |
| same considerations. That is, balancing the | | | | Even though drugs are a scourge on society and are |
| governmental interests served against the | | | | responsible for many of society's ills, there isn't the |
| intrusiveness of the detention. In California, in order to | | | | same vehicle-related threat to life and limb that exists |
| justify an investigative stop or detention, absent a | | | | with drunk driving. If law enforcement agencies were |
| warrant, there must be probable cause. Probable | | | | allowed to detain citizens based on any of the crimes |
| cause are those circumstances known or apparent to | | | | facing society, then the constitutional protections we |
| the officer must include specific and articulable facts | | | | enjoy today would disappear. Therefore, because the |
| causing him or her to suspect that some crime has or | | | | primary purpose of a drug roadblock is to detect |
| will take place, and the person stopped is somehow | | | | evidence of ordinary criminal wrongdoing, it is |
| involved in that activity. Reasonableness requires that | | | | unconstitutional. |
| anyone in the police officer's position would have | | | | Roadblocks to find Witnesses to a Crime |
| come to the same conclusion. | | | | The United States Supreme Court has held that an |
| However, not all searches and seizures require a | | | | "information-seeking" roadblock, where police briefly |
| reasonable suspicion of criminal activity. Searches | | | | detain motorists to pass out flyers and ask if they |
| conducted as part of a regulatory scheme in | | | | witnessed a crime is constitutional. Illinois v Lidster held |
| furtherance of an administrative purpose, rather than | | | | that an Illinois roadblock did not violate the Fourth |
| as part of a criminal investigation to secure evidence | | | | Amendment's prohibition of unreasonable searches |
| of a crime, may be permissible under the Fourth | | | | and seizures and was constitutional. The checkpoint |
| Amendment, even absent a showing of probable | | | | was reasonable because it advanced a "grave" public |
| cause. The reasonableness of an administrative | | | | interest and only minimally interfered with the liberties |
| screening is determined by balancing the public interest | | | | afforded by the Fourth Amendment. The police |
| against the intrusion on the individual. It is under this | | | | officers in this case were investigating a crime that |
| philosophy, that some types of roadblocks have been | | | | resulted in a human death by stopping motorists on the |
| determined to be legal while other types of roadblocks | | | | same stretch of road, at the same time that the |
| are not. | | | | accident occurred, asking motorists briefly whether |
| DUI Roadblocks | | | | they had witnessed the crime or had any information, |
| DUI roadblocks have been determined to be part of a | | | | and passed out fliers. The Supreme Court held that |
| regulatory scheme in furtherance of an administrative | | | | information-seeking roadblocks are less likely to |
| purpose, and not traditional criminal investigative stops. | | | | provoke anxiety or to prove intrusive. Further, the law |
| The primary purpose of a sobriety roadblock is to | | | | ordinarily allows police to seek voluntary cooperation |
| promote public safety by deterring intoxicated drivers | | | | of members of the public in the investigation of a |
| from driving on public streets and highways. Therefore, | | | | crime. Because the crime they officers were |
| if the appropriate guidelines have been followed | | | | investigating was motorist-related, and the stop itself |
| (Ingersoll factors), DUI roadblocks are legal. Essentially, | | | | was brief, it is constitutional. |
| there must be a neutral screening process applicable | | | | |