There’s a hot debate right now on the Senate floor on the Committee Substitute for Senate Bill 298, which would create police checkpoints for officers to check for drunk driving. The bill, written by Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, would allow law enforcement to set up drunk checkpoints on roads.
The issue, however, is whether the checkpoints violate individual rights, creating an unreasonable stop and search. Right now Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, D-McAllen, is going toe-to-toe with Carona, arguing that Carona’s bill is unjust and takes law enforcement away from “saturating” an area and looking for drunks and instead allows cops to harass and “stop innocent people who are not drinking and are not using alcohol.”
Carona is arguing that there are plenty of safeguards in place — requiring law enforcement to develop a written plan for the roadblocks and requiring them to announce the planned stop sight in advance. Carona argues that this does “not take anyone’s right away.”
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This article appears in March 27 • 2009.