How Does Arizona Utilize A Task Force To Deter DUI?

(The content below was transcribed from an interview done with Acacia Law. We think you'll find it much easier
and more enjoyable to read this way.)

Interviewer: In the Phoenix area, are there DUI checkpoints or roadblocks?

Acacia Law: They do not have roadblocks any place in Arizona I am familiar with. There are states where the roadblock you are defining is where a vehicle is stopped, one at a time, on a public roadway.

There, drivers are identified; and it is ascertained whether they are possibly impaired or not. Those are not utilized in the state of Arizona, neither Phoenix or Tucson; or anywhere in the state, as far as I know.

What they do in Phoenix and Tucson is called task forces. In fact, East Valley has its own task force that is separate from the Phoenix task force. This is an alliance of police officers from different precincts.

They work together to vigilantly look for any potential road violations by operators of motor vehicles. They stop those vehicles to ascertain if the persons driving are impaired or not; by either alcohol, drugs, or some combination of the two.

Interviewer: What does it look like? Are you driving along and suddenly pulled over? Do you come to a physical obstruction in the road and then get pulled over?

Acacia Law: You will be stopped wherever you are. There is no roadblock. There is no specific targeted area. The officers involved set up mobilized depots. They set up, in large areas where there is heavy traffic, temporary headquarters where they have DUI vans and park benches.

There, they process people in large numbers for charges of DUI. Those are commonly used and applied during the holiday seasons: Christmas, New Year's, Thanksgiving, Fourth of July and Labor Day. All these things are a basis for the task force.

Interestingly, local TV stations announce when a task force will be out. You actually know in advance. The purpose is to deter people from drinking and driving during the holiday season.

You are giving them the knowledge there is going to be more vigilance than usual during the holiday season. The purpose is to basically stop and prevent what they consider to be drunk driving.

Interviewer: Will you drive up to a set of blocks where different police forces, such as Mesa P.D., Tempe P.D. or Gilbert P.D, come together to pull over anyone that commits the slightest traffic infraction?

Acacia Law: Basically any infraction, whether something unimportant as moving a little left or right within your own lane, is technically a violation in this state. It is called weaving within lane.

It is something they utilize as a basis to stop the vehicle. Again, it is anything they can think of that could be a potential violation or source of suspicion.

From the thousands of police reports I have read with respect to DUI cases, this pattern is consistent; and it is annual. The policy has not changed, as far as I know, in the past 20-plus years.