Checkpoints set up over weekend

By Chelsea Arnold, Reporter
Sept. 7, 2007

During a sobriety checkpoint held Aug. 30 at Stadium Boulevard and Rock Quarry Road, the Columbia Police Department stopped around 400 cars and made 11 driving-while-intoxicated arrests, according to a news release.

Columbia police chose the location, where the checkpoint was held from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., based on previous accidents and the amount of traffic there, Columbia police Sgt. Timothy Moriarity said. Drivers who heard about the checkpoint and tried to avoid it might have been caught off guard as officers were also set up on Providence Road, keeping an eye out for DWI offenders.

Moriarity said about 28 officers, along with 15 volunteers, assisted in the checkpoint, and officials from the Boone County Sheriff's Department and MU Police Department were also on hand. Mothers Against Drunk Driving also lent a hand by providing the officers with meals and a place to rest. The organization was "fully integrated and involved," Moriarity said.

Moriarity said most officers were paid overtime for the evening, and the cost for the checkpoint is still unknown, but is estimated around $2,500. The money that funded the sobriety checkpoint comes from the Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety and the Highway Safety Division of the Missouri Department of Transportation.

The checkpoint was part of Columbia's role in the statewide "You Drink, You Drive, You Lose" campaign. The Columbia police were given an annual DWI grant from MoDOT, and the department requested several dates for sobriety checks, including Labor Day weekend. The Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety also gave Columbia police a grant to help reduce fatality crashes.

CPD plans to hold other events to prevent and stop drunk driving. Possible events include sobriety checkpoints on holiday weeks such as Thanksgiving and Christmas and prom and graduation nights for Columbia high schools.

There will also be a special event on Oct. 10, titled "Put the Brakes on Fatalities."

This was the first year CPD received funding for a sobriety checkpoint, and it expects to receive more funding in October for DWI enforcement.

The Columbia Police Department would not reveal if any of those arrested for DWI were MU students.

"As a lot of young people were pulled over, it's likely," Moriarty said.

The Columbia Police Department also assisted the Boone County Sheriff's Department later in the week with another sobriety check. According to a poll on the national MADD Web site, 70-80 percent of those polled are in favor of more sobriety checkpoints. Representatives from MADD declined to comment.

The Center for Disease Control performed studies and found that sobriety checkpoints can reduce alcohol-related crashes and fatalities by 20 percent.

Moriarity said he hopes checkpoints make people who have been drinking think about finding another way home to avoid fatal car crashes.

"The worst part of my job is having to tell some family member that their wife, husband, daughter or son died in a crash," Moriarity said.

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Checkpoints set up over weekend

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