LAPD Ramps Up DUI Checkpoints This Week
- LAPD announced planned DUI checkpoints and enforcement operations across Los Angeles this week. - The effort aims to catch impaired drivers during heightened patrols and checkpoints citywide. - Officials urge sober driving to reduce collisions and arrests during the enforcement period (patch.com).
The Los Angeles Police Department is running DUI checkpoints and saturation patrols across the city again this week, with operations scheduled through Sunday. (lapdonline.org) LAPD said the current operation includes a Friday, April 24 checkpoint at Alameda Street and 4th Street and another at Western Avenue and Venice Boulevard, both from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. A Thursday, April 23 saturation patrol is scheduled in Hollenbeck from 4 p.m. to midnight. (lapdonline.org) The department announced a separate round of citywide enforcement last week, including checkpoints on Pico Boulevard, Lincoln Boulevard, Century Boulevard, Sepulveda Boulevard, Sunset Boulevard and Manchester Avenue between April 15 and April 19. LAPD said those sites were chosen using data on impaired-driving crashes and arrests. (lapdonline.org) A DUI checkpoint is a fixed screening point where officers stop drivers and look for signs of impairment. A saturation patrol is a roving deployment of extra officers in a target area looking for erratic driving and other violations linked to impaired driving. (lapdonline.org, ots.ca.gov) California’s Office of Traffic Safety said 1,355 people were killed in alcohol-involved crashes statewide in 2023. The agency said alcohol-impaired driving remains one of the main causes of deadly and serious-injury crashes on California roads. (ots.ca.gov) LAPD says impairment cases are not limited to alcohol. Its notices warn that marijuana, prescription drugs and over-the-counter medications can all interfere with driving, even when the substance itself is otherwise legal. (lapdonline.org) The enforcement push is also backed by new funding. LAPD said in February that it received a $960,276 grant through the California Highway Patrol’s Office of Traffic Safety program to support DUI education, enforcement, officer training and outreach through Sept. 30, 2026. (lapdonline.org) Drivers arrested on a first-time DUI can face average fines and penalties of about $13,500, plus a suspended license, LAPD said in its checkpoint advisories. The department also says checkpoint locations can change or be canceled before an operation begins. (lapdonline.org) The immediate schedule runs through Sunday, April 26, when LAPD says it plans a checkpoint at Wilshire Boulevard and Valencia Street from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. and a West Valley saturation patrol from noon to 8 p.m. (lapdonline.org)
