Updated September 3, 2026
Sobriety checkpoints are legal in California, and the Long Beach Police Department runs them regularly, usually on a Friday or Saturday evening from around 6 p.m. to 2 a.m., rotating between its patrol divisions. They are announced in advance. This guide covers what the law requires of a checkpoint, what you are required to do when you reach one, what you are allowed to decline, and what happens if the stop turns into an arrest.
Where the announcements are
The department posts each checkpoint as a press release, typically a few days ahead, with the date, the hours, and the general area. The current list is on the Long Beach Police Department press-release page. Local news outlets usually repeat the notice the day of. Advance public notice is not a courtesy; it is one of the conditions that makes a checkpoint lawful in California.
Long Beach labels most of them DUI/CDL checkpoints. The CDL part means officers are also checking that drivers are licensed. A suspended or missing license is its own citation, and a car driven on a suspended license can be impounded.
What makes a checkpoint lawful
The California Supreme Court set the rules in Ingersoll v. Palmer in 1987. A checkpoint passes constitutional muster when supervisors, not field officers, decide where and when it runs; cars are stopped by a neutral formula, such as every third vehicle, rather than at an officer's discretion; the location is reasonable and the site is safe and clearly marked with signs and lights; the stops are brief; and the public has advance notice. Courts weigh those factors together rather than as a checklist, so a checkpoint that falls short on one of them is weakened, not automatically unlawful. Each shortfall is still a defense worth raising, and it is one of the first things an attorney examines.
What you must do at the checkpoint
- Stop when directed. Driving through or around the cones is a separate offense and a reason to be stopped.
- Roll the window down enough to talk and hand over your license, registration, and proof of insurance when asked.
- Answer the basic identification questions. You do not have to answer questions about where you have been or what you have had to drink, and it is lawful to say so politely.
- Step out of the car if an officer directs you to. That instruction is enforceable; the tests that may follow are a different matter.
What you can decline
Two things are voluntary for most adult drivers before an arrest, and officers are not always careful to say so.
- Field sobriety tests. Standing on one leg, walking a line, and following a pen with your eyes are voluntary. They are graded by the officer's observation and are designed to produce evidence. Declining them is not itself a crime and is not treated as a refusal under the implied consent law.
- The handheld breath test before arrest. The preliminary alcohol screening device is voluntary for drivers 21 and over who are not on DUI probation, and Vehicle Code section 23612 requires the officer to tell you that. It is not the evidentiary test.
After a lawful DUI arrest the rules change. California's implied consent law requires a breath or blood test, and refusing it carries a one-year license suspension and added court penalties on a first offense. Our guide on refusing the breath or blood test explains the difference between the two tests in detail, because confusing them is how people end up with a refusal on their record.
Turning around before the checkpoint
California courts have recognized that a driver may avoid a checkpoint by turning before entering it, and avoidance alone is not a lawful reason to stop a car. Any traffic violation in the process is, including an illegal U-turn, crossing a double line, or a missing signal, and officers are positioned to watch for exactly that. The practical reading is simple: obey every traffic law near a checkpoint, because the stop that follows a violation is just as valid as the one at the cones.
If you are arrested at a checkpoint
A checkpoint arrest proceeds like any other DUI arrest: a chemical test, booking, and usually release with a citation and a court date within a day. The officer keeps your license and issues a pink temporary one, and from that moment you have 10 days to request the DMV hearing that keeps the license from suspending automatically. That deadline is covered in the 10-day DMV hearing guide, and it is the first thing to handle.
Checkpoint cases have a defense angle that ordinary traffic-stop cases do not. The checkpoint's operational plan, the neutral formula, the signage, the advance notice, and the supervisor's approval are all discoverable records. If the department cannot produce them, or they show the checkpoint was run differently than planned, the stop itself can fall. That review happens alongside the usual questions about the tests and the machine, and it is why the arrest paperwork should be examined early rather than after a plea.
Passengers and the car
Passengers are not required to identify themselves or answer questions at a checkpoint, though an open container anywhere in the passenger area is a citation for whoever it is attributed to. If the driver is arrested and a licensed, sober passenger is present, officers will often release the car to them rather than tow it; ask. A towed car accrues storage fees daily, and the impound and release rules are covered on our custody and release page.
If a checkpoint stop has become an arrest, a free consultation with a Long Beach DUI defense attorney can get the DMV hearing requested and the checkpoint records demanded before anything else is decided.
This page is general information for Long Beach residents, not legal advice about any specific situation. Agency fees and procedures change; confirm details with the agency before you rely on them.
