Checkpoints Catch Unlicensed Drivers, Boost City Revenues, Immigrants/Latinos Suffer

Ryan Gabrielson in the N.Y Times reports on a new local initiative to increase revienues that falls disprportionately on Latinos and immigrants.  Sobriety checkpoints have increasingly become profitable operations that are far more likely to seize cars from unlicensed — and often undocumented immigrant (who are ineligible in most states from securing a license) — motorists, than to catch drunken drivers.  The Investigative Reporting Program at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism concluded that in 2009, impoundments at checkpoints generated an estimated $40 million in towing fees and police fines in California. Cities like Oakland, San Jose, San Rafael, Hayward and Redwood City divide the revenue with towing companies.

KJ