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Should Mr. Checkpoint Be Tweeting DUI Stops?
His 42,000 followers think so. MADD does not
Sennett Devermont styles himself the drinking crowd's Batman, working to keep Los Angeles drivers out of trouble if they're thinking of drinking and then weaving their way home. Mothers Against Drunk Driving contends that Devermont is more like the Joker.
He's in their sights because he has nearly 42,000 Twitter followers and more than 20,000 text subscribers. Many thousands have downloaded his free app, MrCheckpoint, which provides frequent daily updates on the locations of police DUI checkpoints scheduled throughout Southern California.
Devermont, 25, who lives in Santa Monica and works out of various L.A. coffee shops, already has a huge fan base to whom he has sent 1 million text messages since last summer. But the app he created in 2012, at MrCheckpoint.com, might go truly stratospheric now that Deborah Hersman, chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board, has called on states to dramatically slash the legal limit for drivers' blood alcohol content from .08 percent to .05 percent.
PHOTO BY TED SOQUI
Sennett Devermont: "I'll be the
people's Batman on the road."
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Devermont argues that text messages sent by his app and tweets from @MrCheckpoint are not intended to help revelers steer around the law. Instead, he sees MrCheckpoint as an efficient preventive tool that stops impaired drivers before they get behind a wheel.
The courts have ruled that, as a matter of drivers' constitutional rights, police must publicize the inspection locations beforehand. By warning drivers in Los Angeles, San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino and other cities where and when DUI checkpoints are expected, Devermont gets many drivers to think about either staying home to party, finding a designated driver or calling a cab.
MrCheckpoint got started with tweets to friends, "and it has grown organically," he says. "I have spent no money on advertising." People learn about it through Twitter, as well as Facebook and other social media.
He sends out alerts nightly beginning at 7 p.m., using information supplied by Los Angeles Police Department, L.A. County Sheriff's Department, San Diego Police Department and other police agencies.
Fans can access MrCheckpoint by texting NODUI to the number 51515. A greeting pops up that, before displaying the DUI checkpoints in your area, requires you to check a box agreeing not to drink and drive. "It's on the honor system," Devermont says.
The seeds of his innovative idea were planted during his first year at San Diego State University, when police singled out Devermont, then 18, for underage drinking at a party. He was told he'd failed a field sobriety test, yet he hadn't had a single drink. When police insisted he take a Breathalyzer test, the machine registered zero.
"It was humiliating and intimidating. I felt violated," Devermont recalls. "After that, I looked up my rights."
He learned that police cannot require a field sobriety test, that refusing the test is not an admission of guilt and that, at a checkpoint, you're not obligated to answer any questions put to you by police.
Then, in July 2011, Devermont was ordered out of his car at a San Diego Police Department checkpoint. He videotaped the entire episode and says he caught San Diego police blatantly violating the law.
After Devermont initially refused to get out of his car, he recalls, the officer "told me to get out, and I did, and he took me aside while another cop entered my car — and went through my wallet. I have that on film. That was after I had already given them my driver's license. I blew a zero and they let me go. Again, it was humiliating. He had me in handcuffs and the other officers were treating me like a criminal."
Devermont's attorney, Mary Prevost, says, "We're throwing the kitchen sink at them for violating his civil rights. ... We're suing for false arrest, emotional distress, battery [tight handcuffs], searching his personal belongings. The city is treating him like: 'Why didn't you just waive your constitutional right not to answer questions from the cops?' The cops were saying that Sennett was being a shitty citizen for not waiving his rights."
Prevost predicts that the San Diego city attorney will "spend $50,000 to defend their cop instead of giving my client $5,000."
Five months later, following a dinner in Santa Monica with his parents, Devermont made an illegal right turn on red onto Santa Monica Boulevard. He was pulled over by Santa Monica police officer Kobe Arnold and refused to perform a field sobriety test. He was arrested.
Again, troubling things began to happen. His car was impounded — and his dogs, in the backseat, were sent to the pound. At a Santa Monica hospital, his blood was drawn. Then he was hauled to lockup and spent a night in jail. The next day, Devermont says, he had to pay $1,000 to get his car and dogs back.
Two months later, his blood test proved negative, and prosecutors declined to file charges.
MADD has little good to say about Devermont. "We don't want apps out there that allow people to evade checkpoints," Anna Duerr, MADD's director of communications, says. The organization's executive director in Los Angeles and Ventura counties, Pat Rillera, explains, "While we support the publication of checkpoints as a deterrent to drunk driving, sites like MrCheckpoint alert drunk drivers so they can evade arrest. It's not meant as a positive."
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41 comments
they're required by law to publish these checkpoints regularly and they do not Mr checkpoint is simply doing the job that the public servants are supposed to be doing
It bears repeating that California DUI law dictates that sobriety / driver's license checkpoints MUST be publically advertised prior to their operation. This is by the U.S. Supreme Court ruling giving DUI checkpoints a pass on the 4th amendment due to public safety concerns.
Sennett Devermont is not doing anything illegal. In fact he is doing what the mass media should have been ding as a public service all along. The police would like to make people think it's supposed to be "secret" but it is NOT suppose to be secret, in fact the opposite is true,checkpoints are supposed to be published to the public in advance.
Why is ok to submit to illegal search because you are 'innocent' . Does not make search any less illegal and your rights any less trampled.
Its doesnt matter if it stops drunk drivers, its unconstitutional by nature, as are immigration check points.
Unreasonable searches? If you're sober or don't give cops a reason to search you, they aren't going to waste their time searching. I've gotten through checkpoints sober without being harrassed. If you look wasted you lose and its your own fault. If you don't have your ID with you, that's your fault. If you're driving without a license.... that's your fault.
Alexandria Luz Ramirez is right. The checkpoints violate the U.S. Constitution's prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures. Fuck the police and idiots who don't give a fuck about their rights.
No. I know people who've died because of drunk driving. If the checkpoints help, why try to circumvent their purpose? It's sophomoric.
No, it doesn't prevent drunk driving - it lets drunk drivers steer clear of the check points, which essentially promotes drunk driving.
Totally against it... If you are driving under the influence of anything then you should get arrested... PERIOD!
DUI checkpoints are a violation of the 4th amendment and a waste of taxpayer's money. I would like to know the stats of how many drunk drivers are caught versus the amount of money spent on putting together a checkpoint. I think that Mr. Checkpoint is doing a valuable service and if you don't like it, don't buy the app. Simple as that
I'd rather sit in a line for 5-10 minutes than get hit by a drunk driver and possibly lose my life.
Most of these checkpoints are also thin veils for "Immigration checkpoints". So i am down with Mr Checkpoint cuz I dont want someone (who is sober) to get their truck taken away just because they are lacking certain documents that are not Offered to them.
Oh, so it helps reduce arrests? So what does it do for the assholes driving around drunk? Oh that's right, it further entitles them to be bigger assholes.
Does not prevent but sure does help with planing alternative routes with less traffic when you need to get to place on time.
Don't drink and drive and you won't get a DUI. Its that simple people. Let's try being responsible, accountable adults.
This argument is fundamentally an advocacy for drunk driving... Which ain't cool... Drink up, have a designated driver, or take a cab.. or don't do it... nothing cute about drunks.
Not everybody who supports this app are driving around drunk holding a cell phone. A lot of people are either on their way or coming home from work and would rather avoid the hassle.
DUI also = one less drunk driver on the road, i only wish it was harder to get away with. As for whether or not he is right to let us know where they are.... If i thought it would make people leave the car at home when they drink maybe!! Unfortunately i think it will only make them take a different route :(
Definitely, this practice will keep me at home and I might even consider quitting alcohol. Thanks Mr. Checkpoint.
Its sad that its the people's fault that the city gets money off of them for their stupid driving.
Cuz I bet many people just LOVE being stuck at DUI checkpoints and taking longer getting home. Yes post check points.
More public transportation with longer hours, less drunk drivers, but when you're making $10k on DUIs, that'a unlikely.
yes cuz if were just high that s different so i need to know were they are, but if im drunk then i wont know any way cuz im drunk and deserve to get pulled over and arrested. fuck drunk drivers
Police officers should have the right to stop and inspect vehicles, that is a proven method to keep us safe and catch bad guys. I too have been pulled out of a car before though and had to under go <a href="http://www.marianjoy.org/">physical therapy in Naperville</a> afterward. But I still love police officers, they do what they can to keep us safe so we pay for them, and to them.
Reality is this: there are lots of bad cops who use the opportunity to interrogate the citizen. Many use it to coerce young women and sometimes men for later sexual get-togethers in lieu of expensive tickets or jail for things like the marijuana police manage to find where-ever needed. Here is a custom made emo video expressing the situation here in Eugene Oregon. It is not offensive, it is supposed to be funny but ironically true. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oN0XwAulcXE
It's tricky.
They do catch some people driving above the limit, but they also operate under the assumption of guilt.
Considering that these stops are unconstitutional in the first place, the question should not be whether or not he should be alerting people about them, the question is are we really ok with having our rights infringed upon this way for supposedly the sake of "safety."
@Alexandria Luz Ramirez How are checkpoints a violation of Unreasonable Search and Seizure? No searching occurs and the purpose of a DUI checkpoint is not "unreasonable".
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