Ingersoll

This case presents the question whether sobriety checkpoints are permissible under the federal and state Constitutions. We conclude that within certain limitations a sobriety checkpoint may be operated in a manner consistent with the federal and state Constitutions.

Facts

Petitioners are California taxpayers who seek to prohibit the operation of sobriety checkpoints in California. Respondents are chiefs of police of various California cities and the Commissioner of the California Highway Patrol. Petitioners alleged that the respondent law enforcement officers in the various jurisdictions around the state had begun or planned to begin using sobriety checkpoints.

In November 1984, in response to a request by the Commissioner of the California Highway Patrol, the Attorney General issued an opinion that roadblocks could constitutionally be used to detect and apprehend drunk drivers if certain safeguards were maintained to minimize the intrusion on motorists. ( 67 Ops.Cal.Atty.Gen. 471 (1984).)

That same month, the Burlingame Police Department (the Department) set up the first sobriety checkpoint program to operate in California, *1326 following the guidelines set forth in…

I dissent. The majority uphold drunk driving 1 roadblocks on the theory that they are administrative inspections, not subject to the usual rule that any detention be justified by reasonable suspicion of individual wrongdoing. In my opinion, when uniformed law enforcement officers stop motorists to check them for intoxication, shine a light in the car to look for open containers of alcohol or other evidence of intoxication, with special officers ready to administer blood-alcohol tests and booking officers and police vans ready to take offenders to jail, it is not an administrative inspection but an ordinary police detention, which must be justified on the same grounds as any other detention for the purpose of law enforcement.

Administrative Search Doctrine

The majority concede that if the primary purpose of the roadblock were to detect crime, the detention of a driver without individualized suspicion that the driver had engaged in criminal activity would be unconstitutional. In fact, the roadblock has two purposes: detection of drunk drivers and collection of evidence. The majority maintain, however, that the primary purpose of these roadblocks is to promote public safety by…

This case presents the question whether sobriety checkpoints are permissible under the federal and state Constitutions. We conclude that within certain limitations a sobriety checkpoint may be operated in a manner consistent with the federal and state Constitutions.

Petitioners are California taxpayers who seek to prohibit the operation of sobriety checkpoints in California. Respondents are chiefs of police of various California cities and the Commissioner of the California Highway Patrol. Petitioners alleged that the respondent law enforcement officers in the various jurisdictions around the state had begun or planned to begin using sobriety checkpoints.

In November 1984, in response to a request by the Commissioner of the California Highway Patrol, the Attorney General issued an opinion that roadblocks could constitutionally be used to detect and apprehend drunk drivers if certain safeguards were maintained to minimize the intrusion on motorists. ( 67 Ops.Cal.Atty.Gen. 471 (1984).)

That same month, the Burlingame Police Department (the Department) set up the first sobriety checkpoint program to operate in California, following the guidelines set forth in…