The Missouri Senate
may have derailed a plan to slash state funding for sobriety checkpoints.
In action Thursday, Senate budget writers removed
language in the $27.8 billion spending plan that would have prohibited the
use of state funds for the checkpoints, which are used to nab drunken drivers
and other traffic scofflaws.
The House had inserted the provision into the Missouri
Department of Transportation budget it approved two weeks ago in response to
concerns that the roadblocks set up by police violate a motorist’s right
to unreasonable searches.
The change wouldn’t have stopped local law enforcement
agencies from conducting the checkpoints using local dollars.
For now, the funding remains in limbo because the
House and Senate must still negotiate a final version of the spending blueprint
before it heads to Gov. Eric Greitens’ desk.
But, the decision in the Senate brought cheers from
Mothers Against Drunk Driving, which had fought to gut the House language.
“MADD is extremely grateful to members of the Senate
Appropriations Committee, who took time to learn about the effectiveness of
sobriety checkpoints in deterring and catching drunk drivers, and to law
enforcement for voicing their need to keep this lifesaving tool in Missouri,”
said Meghan Carter, executive director, MADD Missouri.
Although a handful of other states bar police from
using roadblocks to stop drivers regardless if they were doing anything
illegal, a 1990 U.S. Supreme Court case upheld their use, saying stopping the
threats posed by drunken driving is more important.
The Highway Patrol periodically establishes
checkpoints to check for impaired motorists, saying that an estimated 22
percent of all fatal crashes in 2016 involved drivers who were drunk.
Last week, a sobriety checkpoint conducted in Moniteau
County resulted in three arrests for driving while intoxicated. Officers
stopped 105 vehicles in the central Missouri County and issued 16 violations,
including two felony warrant arrests.
“The objective of DWI enforcement projects is to deter
drinking and driving and to make citizens aware that drinking and impaired
driving will not be tolerated,” said Capt. Michael A. Turner, commanding
officer of Troop F in Jefferson City.
The patrol also uses saturation patrols, in which
police put added resources into a specific area in order to monitor motorists
who may be weaving or driving erratically.
The legislation could be voted on by the full Senate
as early as Tuesday. If approved, it would go before a joint committee of the
House and Senate to work out the final details.
The deadline for lawmakers to forward the spending
plan to the governor is May 5.
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