At 10 p.m., 20  law enforcement vehicles filed out of the compound on Third and Plymouth streets in Washington; their destination, U.S. Highway 264 West, just past the intersection of 15th Street.
Within moments, a DWI checkpoint was created: Alco-Sensors checked and calibrated, generator-powered lights illuminating the roadway, cones narrowing five lanes to two, chase cars in place and officers from the Washington Police Department, Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office, North Carolina State Highway Patrol, Alcohol Law Enforcement, Alcoholic Beverage Control and Community Corrections in place, checking a continuous line of vehicles and drivers, asking for license and registration and looking for the telltale signs a driver had been drinking.
It didn’t take long: minutes after the checkpoint went into operation, a flatbed truck loaded with construction materials was waved to the side. The driver blew a .06, then a .07, just beneath the .08 limit, then was released with an open container citation.
Over the course of four hours, Friday night’s checkpoint yielded two drug charges, four child-restraint violations, 13 seat belt violations, seven inspection violations, seven registration violations, 11 no operator license charges, three driving while license revoked charges, one open container passenger violation, one open container while consuming violation, two underage alcohol violations, one motorcycle/moped helmet violation, one window tint violation and two DWI charges. One person arrested on DWI charges was in violation of his probation; the second DWI arrest involved driving with a revoked license and the car was seized. Another person had eight outstanding warrants orders for arrest for failure to appear on various charges.
While there are obvious rewards to the general public for removing unsafe drivers and vehicles from the roadways, a checkpoint generates other rewards as well, according to Cpl. Jerry Seighman of the Washington Police Department.
Seighman, in his role as county coordinator for the Governor’s Highway Safety Program, puts together the multiagency checkpoints, often in accordance with GHSP initiatives like this week’s “Click It or Ticket” and “Booze It & Lose It,” and for each checkpoint, the participating agencies are awarded points by the GHSP. The points pay off through a GHSP reward system, where each point is worth $1.
“At the end of the year, we can use the points to buy equipment,” Seighman explained. “It doesn’t cost the departments anything but the time.”
Smaller items like radar guns and flashlights, larger items including motorcycles and vehicles, can be purchased through the GHSP program.
A multiagency checkpoint earns more points for both the hosting agency, as well as participating agencies, but takes more time to plan, Seighman said. He starts a month ahead of time with an email requesting officers from every law enforcement agency in the county — the multiagency requirement is at least four officers from three agencies committed to a minimum of two hours per checkpoint—which sometimes means a checkpoint won’t pull together until last minute.
According to Capt. Charlie Rose, head of the sheriff’s office patrol division, the deputies on hand work in addition to the five deputies on a regular shift.
“Basically, it’s volunteer,” Rose said. Rose volunteered to man one of the chase cars put in place to track down those turning off on secondary roads or making U-turns away from the checkpoint.
By 11 p.m. Friday night, while officers continued to stop, wave over and wave through a steady stream of vehicles, word of the checkpoint was out.
“It’s all over Facebook,” said one officer.
But according to Seighman, when it comes to DWI checkpoints, social media can work in both positive and negative ways: negative, in that drunk drivers know where to avoid checkpoints; positive, in that reading about checkpoints on Facebook might inspire those drivers to stay off the road, period.