15 Arrested at Mission Viejo DUI Checkpoint

There were 15 arrests at a weekend DUI checkpoint on Los Alisos Boulevard between Ladero and Oak Tree, police announced Tuesday.

One person was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving, another on a methamphetamine possession allegation, and the other 13 were driving without a license, said Deputy Wayne Howard with the Orange County Sheriff's Department.

The Friday night checkpoint was part of an 18-day DUI crackdown across Orange County called Avoid. Over 18 days, sheriff's deputies and highway patrolmen arrested 856 drivers on suspicion of driving while intoxicated. Last year, 665 were arrested during the same period.

But on average police only catch about 1 percent of the drunken drivers on the roads, Howard said.

The consequences of a DUI ticket? Expect to pay between $4,000 and $15,000 for your first offense in court costs, fees, fines, higher insurance rates and time off work to attend court, Howard said.

"Unfortunately, a lot of people don’t learn," he said. "We’ve got a lot of repeat offenders."

More than 30 sheriff's deputies and Explorers were at the Mission Viejo DUI checkpoint.

Checkpoints are at locations picked by the number of tickets and accidents in that area, said Sgt. Mark Daigle of the Orange County Sheriff's Department. It's also an area that is less intrusive to the public but allows police to stop cars throughout the evening, Daigle said.

Unlike a roving-saturation patrol, whose purpose is to check for impaired drivers while roaming in two-person teams within an area, a checkpoint is a much bigger operation and includes all the tools needed, such as a DUI trailer, to assess and cite those caught driving under the influence.

"We stop cars and we pick a random number—like 10 cars can go through and five get stopped—based on the amount of traffic," Daigle said, adding that check points last a minimum of four hours.

This method is known as a neutrality formula, Howard said. He said stopping a set number of drivers and letting another set number through takes out possible bias and has been approved by the courts.

Officers check for drivers who appear impaired by alcohol or drugs.  Those with infractions such as a broken tail light are informally warned.