Wednesday, January 02, 2013

About that DUI Checkpoint on the MacArthur Causeway last Friday evening

The cops threw up a DUI checkpoint on the MacArthur Causeway last Friday night. Not at 11pm. Not at midnight....or 1 am, or even 2am, which is when I'd schedule one of these things if I was a cop and serious about nailing drunk drivers.

In a post on his blog, Miami criminal defense attorney Brian Tannebaum reported, "Last Friday night (12/28/2012), in the middle of the holiday vacation season, there was a DUI Checkpoint on the way to Miami Beach. When I say 'on the way,' I mean at about 6:30 p.m."

Tannenbaum adds:
Miami is full of tourists, mostly visiting family for the holidays and the bowl game crowd is trickling in. It's the Friday before New Year's Eve. Dinner reservations are made, people are on their way to South Beach hotels to see family and friends, restaurants and bars await the big crowds with money to spend. It's 6 p.m.

I had dinner reservations on South Beach at 7:15 p.m. I knew about the checkpoint, so even though I had not consumed any alcohol, I took the north causeway to the Beach. No problem.

When I got to the restaurant, I saw the angry tweets and other postings from those who were turning around and advising others "don't go to Miami Beach tonight."

Did the city leaders know about this? Did the police sit down and say "we're going to basically stop traffic to the city on Friday night as people are on their way in?"

I doubt it. I assume the police just set up their checkpoint and if the merchants had to suffer a few lost customers on a holiday weekend due to the necessity to let the world know that you can't drink and drive, the hell with it. If people decide not to go to the Beach that night or turn around, at least the point was made.

[It] just seemed like a stupid idea.

So, at this point, you're probably asking: "How many DUI arrests did the cops make last Friday?" 

Today, I asked a local enforcement source that very question, and he sent me the complete stats from Friday night's checkpoint.



2 comments:

  1. 261 citations generates a lot of income.

    ReplyDelete
  2. its always all about money. like i said, how do you think mbpd is one of the best paid in the country

    ReplyDelete

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