Twitter Being Used to Avoid Sobriety Checkpoints
Tweets and texting alert motorist to locations of sobriety checkpoints.
It has recently been reported California has planned to aggressively increase the number of sobriety checkpoints searching for drunk driving motorist and a prosecutor's office in Texas is announcing the names of those accused of DWI using the social network Twitter. In a mash-up of theses two articles, drivers in California are issuing Twitter tweets to alert other motorists of the locations of sobriety checkpoints with hash tags like #dui or #checkpoints and direct messages while District Attorney Brett Ligon is using the DA's Twitter account to tweet the names of DWI suspects in Montgomery County, Texas.
Twitter, the free electronic messaging service, allows subscribers to share short notes that can be sent to cell phones and computers. The technology has been increasingly used to instantly inform 'friends' in the network of law enforcement activities.
Law enforcement agencies lament the activity, partly because the efforts are undertaken by a youthful demographic, one also shown to have a higher number of incidents of impaired driving.
They point out however that the primary focus of sobriety checkpoints is to make a driver think twice before getting into a vehicle, not apprehend drunken drivers.
DUI saturation patrols and targeted enforcement in areas of high alcohol related arrest or accidents are also employed besides sobriety checkpoints.
A criminal defense attorney points out that police departments are required to publicly announce the locations of sobriety checkpoints, and feels that Twitter tweets simply are an extension of that. A spokesperson with the California Office of Traffic Safety however, feels that the technology will be used to help some avoid arrest of drunk drivers.
