If you're going to be drinking and driving in or around Costa Mesa in the future, you may want to proceed with even further caution than was already necessary. The city will continue to announce when it will have sobriety checkpoints, but it will no longer announce the location.
In the Daily Pilot report, a Costa Mesa police sergeant said that the purpose of withholding the location is to prevent potential drunk drivers from simply avoiding the location in order to prevent being arrested. The hope is that by withholding the location, it will further prevent people from taking the risk of driving while intoxicated.
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The new secret location approach will begin this coming Monday.
The checkpoints usually run from 6 p.m. to midnight, which is an aspect that city hall has been critical of, in particular, Mayor Pro Tem Jim Righeimer. According to the Daily Pilot report, Righeimer is critical of the timing because he feels it was “chose for the end of a shift to give police officers extra overtime pay, which is paid for by the federal government.”
The last time the Weekly passed through a DUI checkpoint, on Adams Ave. heading toward Huntington Beach, there were quite a few cops on hand, most of them hanging around talking around the heat lamp with what appeared a warm beverage in hand.
