Sobriety checkpoints continue to be the trend in Orange County as deputies from the Sheriff’s Department were conducting DUI roving patrols the weekend of April 16, 2010. Funding was been provided through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration grants. The patrols targeted areas with high incidences of DUI-related arrests and collisions in the cities of Dana Point, San Juan Capistrano, and San Clemente. In Costa Mesa, police were to conduct a DUI and driver’s license checkpoint on Friday evening, April 16th. All vehicles are open to inspection at a check point and can be checked for drivers who are under the influence of any alcohol or drugs. Cypress, in Western Orange County, were also to be conducting a DUI and driver’s license checkpoint on Saturday starting in the evening and going into the late night hours. See Vehicle Code Sections 23152 (a), (b); 23153(a) (b).

An Orange County man was cited by the Sheriff’s Department on April 2nd for leaving his 11-month-old son in the car while he ran into a Trader Joe’s store. Police received a call at 9:43 a.m. regarding a baby left in a van. Deputies found the sleeping boy alone in the vehicle when they arrived on scene at 9:45 a.m. The father returned to his car just minutes later at 9:48 a.m. with some grocery bags in his hands. He said he did not want to wake his son, so that’s why he had left him alone in the car. Child Protective Services (CPS) was informed of the incident as well and will be conducting an investigation. Fortunately, the child was not taken into protective custody at the time and was allowed to go home with his father.

Another case was recently reported of a woman who left her 4-year-old watching a movie unattended in a Range Rover at The Shops at Mission Viejo while she went into the mall. Parents should be careful of leaving their children unattended as they can be charged with child endangerment under California Penal Code Sections 273a (a) or 273a (b). This crime occurs when an individual places a child in a dangerous situation or allows a child to be placed in a dangerous situation without taking steps to protect the child. Because a child left alone in the car could die from heat or be abducted by passerby, it could be considered a “dangerous situation” to leave the child alone in a car.

At a council meeting on March 9, 2010, Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens offered a proposal to house 838 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees at two of the Orange County jails – Theo Lacy and James A. Musick Facility. Most of the ICE detainees are former federal, state or local inmates who were unable to provide proof of citizenship at the time of their arrest and were turned over to ICE after serving their sentence.

Sheriff Hutchens’ proposal was not well-received by both the Mayor and Councilmen. Both were “uncomfortable” with the Sheriff Department’s proposal especially since there was an issue of it violating the city’s 15-year-old agreement with the county, which specifies jail perimeters and limits on inmate population. According to the Orange County Register, Hutchens said “she did not believe the proposal would violate the existing agreement with the city because nothing new would be added to the jail.” She further stated, “We have no intention of increasing the population above what was discussed (in the agreement).”