When To Expect Sobriety Checkpoints In Hamilton County

HAMILTON COUNTY, IN -- The Hamilton County Traffic Safety Partnership (HCTSP), a coalition of different law enforcement agencies across the county, will conduct sobriety checkpoints around the county during the upcoming St. Patrick's Day weekend. According to a release from the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office, these will take place Saturday night, March 17 and early Sunday, March 18. Officials say the HCTSP will "aggressively" detect, prevent and arrest drivers who choose to drive impaired, as the HCTSP is working to increase seat belt use, combat aggressive driving, and decrease impaired driving.

The HCTSP includes the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department, Fishers Police Department, Carmel Police Department, Noblesville Police Department, Westfield Police Department, and Cicero Police Department, with the assistance of the Indiana State Police. The group will be doing these sobriety checkpoints in an effort to increase awareness of how often impaired driving happens throughout our community, and of course, in an effort to combat this crime.

HCTSP - What to expect at a sobriety checkpoint:

• Law enforcement officers evaluate drivers for signs of alcohol or drug intoxication at a specified point along the road, which are selected depending on agreement from the property owner and based upon analysis of available crash and impaired driving arrest data, plus a consideration of officer safety.
• Vehicles are stopped in a specific sequence based on the number of officers, such as every other vehicle, every third vehicle, every fourth vehicle or by stopping three, four, or five cars in succession and allowing other traffic to proceed while checking the stopped vehicles.
• Upon making contact with the driver, the officer advises them that they've been stopped at an HCTSP sobriety checkpoint and asks for the driver's license and the vehicle's registration.
• If the officer detects that alcohol may be involved and that the driver may be impaired or if some other issue arises, then the vehicle is directed into a pull-off area for further investigation, which may involve the Standardized Field Sobriety Tests (SFSTs).
• Or, if all looks right when the officer meets the driver, that person is often sent on their way in less than two minutes.

RELATED: More Indiana Police Patrols With March Madness, St. Patrick's Day

According to a release, members of the Hamilton County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office work with the Partnership to ensure that each checkpoint meets constitutional requirements.

Officials say nearly 750 people are convicted of an impaired driving offense annually in Hamilton County, with nearly 100 of those being repeat offenders.

More: hamiltoncounty.in.gov

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