Police to hold sobriety checkpoint

The checkpoint's location will not be disclosed.

By Amanda Bromwich

Published April 17, 2009

The Boone County Sheriff's Department will conduct a sobriety checkpoint during the late night and early morning hours either Friday or Saturday.

The purpose of the checkpoint is to detect and apprehend intoxicated and impaired drivers in Boone County, a sheriff's department news release stated.

Boone County Sheriff's Department Capt. Gregory Vandegriffe said the location of the checkpoint has not been disclosed and varies each time a checkpoint is held.

"Releasing the checkpoint's location would defeat its purpose since impaired drivers would avoid the area," Vandergriffe said.

Vandegriffe also said the number of impaired or intoxicated drivers apprehended is dependent on the traffic volume of the area the checkpoint is held.

"Usually, if a checkpoint is conducted with a low number of officers, on a lesser traveled road there will be fewer arrests," Vandergriffe said. "If the checkpoint is held on a road like Providence, there are usually anywhere between 10 and 15 DWI arrests."

Vandegriffe also said Mothers Against Drunk Driving and Missouri want agencies who receive sobriety checkpoint funding, such as the sheriff's department, to have a designated number of checkpoints per year.

The department conducts sobriety checkpoints several times a year on randomly selected weekends, and occasionally cooperates with the Columbia Police Department and Missouri State Highway Patrol in conducting them.

Previous locations the sheriff's department has held sobriety checkpoints on include Highway 63, Providence Road and Rangeline Street.

Law-abiding motorists encountering the checkpoint should expect minimal delay, the release stated.