Controversial DUI Laws in Indiana

Earlier this year Indiana law informant conducted a controversial increase on drunk driving by the use of so called sobriety check points. Law enforcement held news conferences informing the Indiana citizenry of state-wide crackdown in late February early March.

Controversial Crackdown

For two week in March the state police in Indiana and other law enforcement organization throughout the state conducted sobriety checkpoints and cited those driving dangerously.

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Reason For Crackdown

The impendence for the crackdown was the deaths of 10 people in Indiana during the same time period last year due to drunk driving and a perceived increase in driving while intoxicated during the St. Patrick's day holiday weekend.

DUI Not Accepted In Indiana

Law enforcement official say that driving while intoxicated is not accepted as normal and they will make sure that drunken drivers do not cause the deaths that they did the previous year. They say they want get drunk drivers off the streets and keep Indiana safe.

Law Enforcement DUI Actions

Platoons of law enforcement officers worked throughout Indiana in March to sweep drunk drivers off the streets. They set up at night flashing the lights from their patrol vehicle and backed upped traffic for miles. This is what a sobriety checkpoint looks like. This controversial weapon used by Indiana law enforcement to trap drunk drivers is used all over the country.

Check Points

State law enforcement used cones to funnel drivers into check points. Officers then examine vehicles plates, and vehicle registration, then the driver’s license, and the drivers insurance. If they found anything wrong with these things a driver was immediately cited.

Controversial Actions

Then laws enforcement officers would interrogate a driver on his or her whereabouts then ask if they were drinking. If the officers thought that a driver was drinking they were ordered out of their vehicles asked to perform a FST(Field Sobriety Tests). If a driver appeared drunk arrested and force to take a chemical test from blood, urine, or breathe.

No Choice In BAC Testing

In Indiana DUI laws allows law enforcement officers to pick the method of testing to determine BAC(blood alcohol content) in a suspect's blood, breath or urine. The driver being arrested for DUI in Indiana does not have any right to choose the method of testing..

Are DUI Checkpoints Constitutional?

The use of sobriety checkpoints have been controversial every since the first started being used. The constitution is supposed to protect a drivers from being searched without due cause. For this reason many cases involving the lawfulness of sobriety checkpoints have gone to state supreme courts. Many courts have decided that sobriety check points are unconstitutional however in the name of public safety they have been allowed. However, some states have outlawed them. Even the effectiveness of sobriety checkpoints has come into question. But with the controversy, Indiana courts have upheld the practice and it is legal in the most states.