Four senators have forwarded a letter to Apple, Google and Blackberry asking the companies to remove an app that advises drivers on the times and location of DUI checkpoints.  The senators have indicated that the app is merely a means for drunk drivers to avoid detection.  The apps also advise drivers of the location of red light cameras, but the letter did not specifically address this use of the application.  They have requested that the wireless communication providers either disable the app or remove it from their stores.  Unfortunately, this is another attempt to affect an end run around the requirements of the Fourth Amendment against unreasonable search and seizures in DUI cases.  Our Florida DUI attorneys are committed to preventing a further erosion of Constitutional protections of the Fourth Amendment.

We have previously addressed how the U.S. Supreme Court, in Michigan vs. Stitz, effectively created a “DUI exception” to the Fourth Amendment by permitting a balancing test weighing the importance of preventing drunk driving against the degree of intrusion on a motorist’s Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizures.  A stop of a vehicle at a sobriety checkpoint results in a seizure of the driver because they are deprived of their liberty when they are detained.  This stop occurs not only without a warrant but also without a scintilla of evidence to support individualized suspicion.  A sobriety checkpoint is unique in that it permits an officer to stop and question a person where there is absolutely no evidence that the motorist is engaged in criminal activity.

However, the Supreme Court also imposed limits and restrictions on how a DUI checkpoint is designed and operated to minimize the risk that it would be used for arbitrary investigations of drivers (“fishing expeditions) without some factual basis for suspicion and to minimize the intrusion on a driver’s Fourth Amendment rights.  The letter from the senators conveniently ignores an important requirement imposed by the courts in permitting DUI checkpoints:

• The time and location of the DUI checkpoint must be published in advance

The wireless communication apps that the senators have complained about simply provide an effective way to communicate the location and time of checkpoints to drivers.  The real complaint is that unlike publishing the location and time of checkpoints in a small blurb in a local newspaper where it is likely to be missed, the DUI checkpoint app is actually effective at communicating this information to drivers so that they can avoid an intrusion on their Fourth Amendment rights if they wish to do so.  Put another way, the complaint about the apps is that they actually protect drivers by providing information to drivers that the U.S. Supreme Court indicated had to be made available to the public.

It remains to be seen whether the app providers will cave to this pressure which is likely to grow as we hear the litany of evils committed by drunk drivers.  I suspect it will not be accompanied by the litany of evils that accompany continued intrusions on the Fourth Amendment rights of citizens.