Lawmaker proposes sobriety checkpoints

GREEN BAY - A Milwaukee lawmaker says he is ready to introduce a bill aimed at setting up sobriety checkpoints in the state.

Right now, officers are required to have probable cause before making a traffic stop.

Sobriety checkpoints are legal in 38 states. Wisconsin isn't one of them. Democratic State Sen. Tim Carpenter is working to change that.

"We would have state legislation to allow the option of local control for law enforcement officers to have sobriety checkpoints," said Carpenter.

The checkpoints allow police to stop vehicles on public roads to see if drivers have been drinking.

"Anything we can do to send a signal that makes a person think twice before they get behind of a wheel while intoxicated, I feel is important," Carpenter said.

"Sobriety checkpoints just seem to go a little bit over the top for a lot of legislators," said Republican State Rep. Dean Kaufert of Neenah.

Kaufert, who owns a sports bar, said he believes many in the Legislature aren't ready to endorse the idea, adding it's a slippery slope.

"They have to have reasonable suspicion to stop them. You kind of lose that with sobriety checkpoints, and that worries some people about where we're going to go from there," Kaufert said.

The American Civil Liberties Union also has concerns about civil liberties.

"It's subjecting us to searches without any reason to think that we've done something wrong," said Peter Kellogg with the ACLU.

Mike Panosh, with the Wisconsin State Patrol, said the sobriety checkpoints can be costly because of the manpower required.

He added he is not lobbying for checkpoints, but believed they would work well with the OWI task forces he oversees.
 
"If checkpoints were available, it certainly would fit the task force model in the sense that we typically have 12 to 15 officers out for each deployment," said Panosh.

Carpenter said the checkpoints would be another tool to help curb drunken driving. He plans to introduce a bill this month.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving, or MADD, supports legalizing sobriety checkpoints, saying they are effective in deterring drunken driving.

The Wisconsin Tavern League has taken a stance against them. It believes officers out patrolling the roads are more effective.