Wilmington, NC DWI Lawyer Thomas Kerner

Wake County DWI Checkpoint Nets 15 DWI Arrests

A recent DWI checkpoint netted 15 DWI arrests in Wake County.  According to the Raleigh News & Observer, Officers from Apex, Cary, Garner, Morrisville, Holly Springs, Zebulon and Fuquay-Varina conducted a joint operation.  Altogether some 76 drivers were charged with various offenses.

Wilmington, New Hanover County DWI Charges Top 75 During 4th of July Week

Wilmington and New Hanover Counties accounted for more than 75 DWI charges over the July 4th holiday week, according to the Star-News.  Many of the arrests were due to a DWI checkpoint on Oleander Drive, near the Bradley Creek bridge, which netted 32 violators.    Heightened enforcement is expected again around Labor Day weekend.

DWI Checkpoints in North Carolina

If you are out late on a weekend, you have probably seen, or even been through, a DWI checkpoint.  While few people think much about them, their presence raises significant constitutional issues.

In former Soviet-bloc socialist and communist countries, for example, citizens are quite accustomed to being stopped and questioned by police, even while doing ordinary things.  In the United States, however, this is quite unusual, mainly due to the 4th Amendment to the Constitution, which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures.

The Supreme Court has set out specific guidelines for police to follow in conducting DWI checkpoints.  In doing so, it rejected the basic idea that a checkpoint is acceptable because it will catch criminals.  In Edmonds v. City of Indianapolis, the Court stated:  "We cannot sanction stops justified only by the generalized and ever-present possibility that interrogation and inspection may reveal that any given motorist has committed some crime."   531 U.S. 32, 44 (2000). 

In North Carolina, the trial judge must make findings of fact with regard to the checkpoint.  There are two separate sets of findings that must be made: (1) whether there was a proper "primary programmatic purpose" to the checkpoint, and (2) whether the checkpoint was reasonable.  In State v. Rose, 170 N.C. App. 284 (2004) the trial court failed to make these findings, and the driver's DWI conviction was reversed on appeal.