Saturation patrols work better to stop drunken drivers

Labor Day, as the name suggests, celebrates our country's labor force. Over the holiday weekend, millions of hard-working Americans will take that theme to heart by doing - well, as little work as possible. But many others - including police officers nationwide - will still be on the job, working tirelessly to ensure the safety of our extended weekend and our roadways.

Fortunately, evidence shows that there are simple ways our law enforcement can catch a little break, too.

Efficiency in the U.S. labor force is at an all-time high. Compared to the 1950s, today's average employee logs 5e percent fewer hours at work. Over that same period, productivity has increased. This means Americans are spending less time at work to produce more than earlier generations.

But that efficiency has yet to translate to a certain enforcement tactic to fight drunken driving.

This holiday weekend, Illinois will assign hundreds of officers to run sobriety checkpoints. Officers spend hours screening hundreds, sometimes thousands, of vehicles that pass through a previously announced location. These roadblocks demand extensive funding and considerable man-hours, but yield precious few drunken driving arrests.

With our slowing economy and rising gas prices, resources are tight and getting tighter. That reality makes the $29 million in federal funds earmarked to help run these pricey checkpoints in 2009 a luxury we can't afford. With overtime for a dozen or more officers, the costs of everyone's travel delays, and the value of other materials and equipment, the average checkpoint costs about $8,800.

In 2006, states that relied on checkpoints averaged 7 percent more alcohol-related fatalities than those that used other tactics. The reason for that discrepancy is readily apparent when considering programs like South Dakota's, where officers ran more than 300 checkpoints in 2006. Even though the overtime alone cost taxpayers $177,000, the roadblocks, on average, only yielded a single arrest. Checkpoints in Ohio, Kansas, New York and states from coast to coast had similar results. These examples aren't unique, and supporters often scramble to defend the low numbers. They claim checkpoints raise "awareness" of enforcement efforts, reducing the tactic to little more than an overpriced publicity stunt.

The alternative is saturation patrols. They're both less expensive and more effective.

Rather than placing a group of officers at a single location to wait for drunks to come to them, these roving patrols utilize one or two police officers to cruise the roadways in search of all types of dangerous drivers. A typical patrol runs about $300 - as compared to the roadblock's $8,000. And that bargain price even comes with a guarantee. An FBI analysis determined: "It is proven that saturation efforts will bring more DUI arrests than sobriety checkpoints."

At a fraction of the cost, saturation patrols are 11 times more effective than high-dollar checkpoints at removing drunken drivers from our streets. It only takes a simple cost-benefit analysis to understand their superiority: less manpower, smaller price tag, better results.

Labor Day is a great opportunity for the public to think about American workers. So drive responsibly this weekend and be thankful for the hard-working men and women who are spending the holiday helping you get home safe. And remember that sometimes, the best way to honor their service is to help them be more effective. It's time for Illinois to do away with wasteful roadblocks - for their sake and ours.

Sarah Longwell is the Managing Director of the American Beverage Institute in Washington, D.C., an association of restaurants committed to the responsible serving of adult beverages.