Reader's opinion: DUI checkpoints waste money

Kansas City, MO

DUI checkpoints waste money

On our way home recently from the Music Hall, my wife and I were among the 1,670 vehicles inconvenienced by a road block and huge traffic jam when the police styled a “sobriety check.” It was at the north end of the Broadway Bridge and involved dozens of police officers and many patrol cars with flashing lights. It was quite a hullabaloo.

You may imagine our irritation when we read in The Star (4/20, Local) that all this intimidating uproar netted only 22 citations for driving under the influence and 13 other miscellaneous offenses over eight hours. I consider this to be a pitiful harvest over an eight-hour period. Thus, it appears to be a waste of taxpayer money.

Before any more is spent this way, the city’s auditor should follow these charges through the courts to their final result to determine how many citations result in actual convictions. With such information the procedure can be given a fresh and meaningful analysis to determine if it is worth doing.

Joe Williams
Kansas City, MO

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