You know the drill: the Santa Ana Police Department will set up a DUI/Driver’s License checkpoint in Santa Ana tonight (that’s Friday, Sept. 6).
“It will begin at 9:00 p.m. and is scheduled to conclude at 2:30 a.m.,” states a Sept. 5 news release sent out by the SAPD. “It will be conducted in the area of 100 N Ross Street, in the City of Santa Ana.”
As is usually the case, the Santa Ana PD says this checkpoint will not be conducted in association with ICE.
“This operation is NOT connected to any immigration enforcement action,” states the Sept. 5 news release. “Given Santa Ana’s Sanctuary City designation, as defined in Santa Ana Ordinance NS-2908, the ordinance prohibits members of the Santa Ana Police Department from engaging in any immigration enforcement within the City limits. Public safety requires community partnerships, and engaging in immigration enforcement operations erodes the trust necessary to provide effective public safety services in our City.”
There will also be a checkpoint somewhere in Costa Mesa on Saturday, Sept. 7, the Costa Mesa PD announced yesterday. That checkpoint will start at 8 p.m. and go until 2:30 a.m.
Funding for the checkpoints come through a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety administered through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Anthony Pignataro has been a journalist since 1996. He spent a dozen years as Editor of MauiTime, the last alt weekly in Hawaii. He also wrote three trashy novels about Maui, which were published by Event Horizon Press. But he got his start at OC Weekly, and returned to the paper in 2019 as a Staff Writer.
It’s pretty stupid to tell everybody where this checkpoint’s going to be at
Thanks for the update
I don’t think DUI check points should be reported. How can it help keep drunk drivers off the road if they are being told where to avoid?