VCU Police checkpoint books double digit DUI arrests
Mark Robinson
Assistant News Editor
Ten people were arrested for DUI last Saturday night at the first VCU Police on-campus checkpoint of the semester.
The checkpoint was held at the 700 block of West Main Street between 10:30 p.m. and 2:45 a.m. It coincided with St. Patrick’s Day and the scheduled NCAA Tournament game for the VCU men’s basketball team.
More than 670 vehicles were stopped, and a total of 42 summonses were written.
“We’re just trying to make sure everyone is compliant when they’re coming through VCU,” said Chris Preuss, interim assistant chief for VCU Police. “And (we’re) always trying to advertise that if you’re trying to do anything illegal, be it drink and drive or commit larceny, VCU is a bad place to do it.”
Preuss said more DUI arrests were made at this checkpoint than usual because of planned St. Patrick’s Day festivities, like Shamrock the Block in Shockoe Bottom.
It was the fourth checkpoint VCU Police coordinated this school year with the Richmond Police Department, State Police and Alcohol Beverage Control; the previous three were held last fall.
This marks the first on-campus DUI checkpoint since the death of VCU student Carolina Perez in a drunken driving accident.
Varinder “Vick” Chahal, the accused driver of the car that hit the car Perez was riding in, is charged with felony manslaughter, driving under the influence, and refusal to submit to breath or blood tests.
His preliminary hearing was scheduled for Thursday, March 22.
The number of checkpoints held each year depends on how much funding the VCU Police receive through a DMV grant program. New funding won’t be awarded until October 2012, Preuss said.
As a condition of receiving a grant, the DMV requires that an announcement is made before a checkpoint occurs. The police do not have to say where the checkpoint will be, but do have to publicize that it will happen, Preuss said.
There is no set date for the next DUI checkpoint on campus, but Preuss said there will be more checkpoints this semester if the department can afford to host them.
“As long as there’s money, we’re going to use every dime of it that we can to patrol for DUIs and do the checkpoints,” Preuss said.
Some of the grant money is also used to pay patrol officers overtime throughout the year to work between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. to do what Preuss calls saturated patrols during peak hours for DUI arrests.
Saturated patrols were not used on St. Patrick’s Day. No other DUI arrests were made by VCU patrol officers that night.
To date, VCU Police have arrested 90 people for drinking and driving this school year. Five of the arrests at the DUI checkpoint last Saturday were made by the state police.
