Searching for Answers Friday
Dang if this one little line in the West Escambia newsbrief wasn’t bugging the beejeesus out of me. I’d read it in the paper two days in a row.
The Florida Highway Patrol will conduct a roadside sobriety checkpoint between 10 p.m. today and 2 a.m. Saturday. The checkpoint will be on Sorrento Road in front of the Winn-Dixie store.
There will be approximately 25 uniformed officers participating, as well as support personnel from the Emerald Coast MADD Chapter. Other participating agencies include the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office, Pensacola Police Department, Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office and the Department of Environmental Protection.
Vehicles will be stopped to check for driver impairment and other violations.
My first thought was “WTF is MADD doing there?” So I called the Florida Highway Patrol and asked. The receptionist was very friendly until I repeated my initial question.
“Well, they’re trying to get drunks off the road!”
“Yes, but they’re law enforcement. They’re supposed to. I was curious why MADD is mentioned. Why are they part of the checkpoint if they’re not law enforcement?”
[sputter] “They’re support personnel ~ they’ll have coffee and water for the officers. Sometimes they set up a tent.”
“Oh, that’s very nice on a hot night, I’m sure. I was just curious what part they played in an official exercise. Thank you.”
She was pretty disgusted that I asked, honestly. Got a tad strident with her tone when I didn’t seem to capeche that MADD had a right to be in EVERYTHING, EVERYWHERE.
Then, as I read more, I’m like “Bangla-cola cops? They have no jurisdiction in the county.” For that matter, Santa Rosa is the next county over to the east, so WTF are those guys doing all the way clean over here almost to Alabammy?” Honest to God, I thought we had enough law enforcement in our own county to deal with a checkpoint.
I wouldn’t be surprised if there wasn’t a van in the parking lot carrying a colonoscopy probe, too.
Yeah. That’d be a waste. They’re already up there.
Life | tree hugging sister | 
June 29, 2007 3:32 pm
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“Then, as I read more, I’m like “Bangla-cola cops? They have no jurisdiction in the county.” For that matter, Santa Rosa is the next county over to the east, so WTF are those guys doing all the way clean over here almost to Alabammy?” Honest to God, I thought we had enough law enforcement in our own county to deal with a checkpoint.”
I’m with you on the MADD participation, but it’s not uncommon for law enforcement to use volunteer groups, within certain limits (I’ve done some search & rescue and emergency communications, for example). MADD, however, is turning into a volunteer Nannystate group.
But to clarify your confusion about the law enforcement crossing jurisdictions…..I’d speculate that someone decided to request mutual aid for this operation, because they decided that the local jurisdiction(s?) couldn’t (wouldn’t?) handle the additional workload. It sounds a little odd, mutual aid being reserved for dire circumstances, but the agency invoking mutual aid generally pays the bills. If so, much is explained.
Having dealt with a lot of them over the past 14 months, DUI checkpoints are often multi-agency. And Jeff, at least here in Broward, mutual aid is hardly for emergencies only: there’s a standing mutual aid agreement between most of the cities and the county specifically for the purpose of DUI checkpoints.
As for FHP, I think what I could say about them is probably not fit for public consumption.