Thread: Checkpoint for Latinos, not drunks, critics charge

Newspaper FAQs Checkpoint for Latinos, not drunks, critics charge
Thursday, May 10, 2007 3:50 AM
By Stephanie Czekalinski and Matthew Marx

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

More coverage
Spanish-language coverage of the checkpoint dispute will appear in next week's Fronteras de la Noticia, published by The Dispatch and distributed, free, at more than 400 locations. Some central Ohio Latinos say they were targeted this past weekend when law-enforcement officials ran a checkpoint for drunken drivers on the Cinco de Mayo holiday, just blocks from apartment complexes with heavy immigrant populations.

Instead of the arrests netting a large number of people who had too much to drink, they largely hauled in unlicensed drivers, nearly all of them with Latino names.

The DUI checkpoint has drawn criticism from Latino community leaders.

The checkpoint "appears to target Latinos in three ways: where they put it, the fact that it was on Cinco de Mayo" and the number of people who were charged for not having a driver's license, said Jose Luis Mas, a local lawyer and chairman of the Ohio Hispanic Coalition board of directors.

Many times, undocumented immigrants don't have driver's licenses because of their immigration status, he said.

The checkpoint was on Georgesville Road just south of W. Broad Street from 9:30 p.m. Saturday to 2:20 a.m. Sunday. It was run by the Franklin County DUI Task Force, which includes officers from the county sheriff's office and several local police departments. Carl Booth, the task force coordinator, dismissed the notion that Latinos were unfairly targeted.

"There is a pocket of Latinos who live in that area. I wouldn't say it was targeted," Booth said. "We can document the alcohol-related crash problem in that area. The officers were seeing a great rise in people with no license in that area."



As far as Cinco de Mayo being chosen, Booth said it's typical for the task force to set up checkpoints on holidays because people drink more then. "We also do checkpoints on the Fourth of July and Memorial Day," he said.



But Mas said the checkpoint provided police with an easy way to stop drivers and screen for those without licenses.

"It really wasn't a DUI checkpoint," Mas said. "It was a no-op checkpoint, even if you don't call it that."

In the checkpoint's five-hour period, 716 motorists passed through. Officers stopped and checked 287 of the cars at random and 73 citations were issued.

Forty-eight of those were for driving without an operator's license and nine were for driving under suspension. The checkpoint netted three drunken-driving arrests.

The police didn't contact immigration authorities concerning those who were determined to be undocumented, Booth said. Authorities say that's typical when it comes to misdemeanor charges.

The message was clear to one man who was stopped and cited for not having a driver's license at the checkpoint. He asked not to be identified for this story because he is undocumented and fears deportation.

"I feel like on Saturday they were looking for Latinos," the man said in Spanish. "They asked me for my license. They didn't ask if I had been drinking."

But not everyone in the Latino community was concerned by how the checkpoint was conducted over the holiday weekend.

"There have been so many crashes lately on the West Side that they wanted people to see that if you drink and drive, you're going to jail," said Josue Vicente, executive director of the Ohio Hispanic Coalition.

The task force's next checkpoint, scheduled for the Memorial Day weekend, likely will be in southeastern Franklin County, Booth said.

sczekalinski@dispatch.com

mmarx@dispatch.com

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On May 5th a lot of people are driving drunk. Not exclusively latino.

It is in no way racist for the police to do checks to ensure public safety. In fact every police department should do the same thing on a "drinking holiday".

If it's "your people" who are the ones driving without licenses then too bad.

A cop's first question during ANY traffic stop is "Can I see your driver's license, registration and proof of insurance?"

What a bunch of sniveling race-baiters!!!

Many times, undocumented immigrants don't have driver's licenses because of their immigration status, he said

This guy sounds like he thinks being here in our country illegally should be an excuse for breaking another law by not having a drivers license. I'm sure he forgot to excuse him for not having insurance on that account too.

Wake up, lawyer...they're all three crimes in this country!!

Letter to the Editor of the Columbus Dispatch-

Reply to “Checkpoint for Latinos, not drunks, critics chargeâ€

Great letter, magyart. Please let us know when it's published.

Sometimes you really wonder why more people aren't screaming
at the idiocy in the MSM.

An officer of the court is complaining about the police catching
unlicensed drivers & trying to spin it as a racist traffic stop. It was
this kind of illogical propaganda which told me this is about special
privilege for certain nationalities & never, ever even a question of
human rights, let alone civil rights.

Unreal. It's interesting how the Irish don't scream bloody murder on St. Patrick's Day. They could be screaming: "It's discrimination against the Irish, they're doing the DUI/DWI checkpoint on our national holiday!" And yet hispanics/latinos wonder WHY they're getting a bad rap.

If you are driving a vehicle, you are supposed to have a license, and in Texas, insurance. It's just that simple.