SB 683

Under current law, with few exceptions, a law enforcement officer may not stop

a motor vehicle without reasonable cause to believe that the operator of the motor

vehicle has violated a law or ordinance.

This bill allows Milwaukee County, or a city, town, or village within Milwaukee

County, to approve a pilot sobriety checkpoint program. When a law enforcement

agency conducts a sobriety checkpoint, drivers are briefly stopped without

individualized suspicion that they may be intoxicated, and drivers who demonstrate

some level of impairment or other signs of drug or alcohol use are detained for

additional testing and possible arrest.

The bill requires any approved sobriety checkpoint program to require that

drivers are stopped in a neutral, nondiscretionary manner and that the initial stops

are conducted in a way that minimizes the disruption of traffic flow and minimizes

the amount of time the driver is stopped. The program must also specify that the

sobriety checkpoint has fixed beginning and ending times and is publicized before it

is conducted. The program must require that, at the sobriety checkpoint,

approaching drivers are given adequate warning that a sobriety checkpoint is under

way, and that officers clearly identify themselves and explain the purpose of the

sobriety checkpoint to each driver they stop. Finally, the program must establish

criteria for determining where the checkpoints are conducted and which drivers may

be detained beyond the initial stop to undergo testing for intoxication. Under the bill,

a program may not allow sobriety checkpoints to be conducted more than ten days

each year and must end after two years.