Sobriety Checkpoint Planned This Weekend

By Andrew Gorosko

Police plan to conduct a sobriety checkpoint on the night of Saturday, July 20, and early morning hours of Sunday July 21, in an effort to keep drunken drivers off local roads.

Police did not disclose where they plan to set up the checkpoint.

Police Chief Michael Kehoe said July 16 the checkpoint seeks to have motorists voluntarily comply with motor vehicle laws. The checkpoint is designed to keep the general public safe by taking drunken drivers off the roads, he said.

The effort serves as an educational tool to inform the public that police are enforcing the drunken driving laws, he said.

“We are there. We are looking,” Chief Kehoe said.

The checkpoint would not necessarily remain at one place during the course of the night and may be moved by police from one place to another, he said.

The enforcement project is scheduled to run from 9 pm July 20 until 3 am July 21.

Eight police officers and one supervisor are scheduled to participate. Each vehicle traveling in either direction past the checkpoint will be stopped by police. Police will conduct a brief interview with each driver. Through such interviews police gauge whether drivers have been drinking alcohol or using drugs. Sobriety tests will be performed on people suspected of intoxication.

Motorists who are charged with drunken driving are transported to the police station where their arrests are processed before they are released on bail or without bail for future appearances in Danbury Superior Court to answer the charges. 

The last such checkpoint was conducted June 15-16. At that checkpoint, police arrested three drivers on drunken driving charges, charged one driver with drug possession, issued eleven verbal warnings for various motor vehicle violations, issued four written warnings, and handed out infraction tickets for an automotive emissions violation and for failure to use a child safety seat.

 Police overtime costs for the sobriety checkpoints are partially funded by a state Department of Transportation grant intended for expanded drunken driving law enforcement.

Police have conducted many such sobriety checkpoints during the past several years.