Charlotte Traffic Citations and Arrests Increase

As part of North Carolina's "Booze It & Loose It" campaign, Charlotte Mecklenburg County Police increased their patrol during Labor Day weekend. Mecklenburg County officers issued more citations and arrests than any other county in the state. Other counties falling within the Top Five were the Wake, Forsyth, Guilford, and Onslow counties. Mecklenburg County also led the state in the number of DWI / DUI charges with Wake County, Hanover, Guildford, and Robeson following.

Mecklenburg County was second in issuing speeding tickets. Within Charlotte's surrounding vicinity, Cabarrus County issued the second largest amount of traffic tickets and citations, as well as the second largest amount of DWI / DUI arrests.

These statistics, coupled with the fact that Charlotte Mecklenburg Police arrested eight individuals and issued seventy-two additional citations during a routine DWI checkpoint last week, indicate that Police are increasing patrols for traffic violations.

As a practical matter, Police officers also use these checkpoints as a preliminary basis to stop motorists to further investigate for additional criminal activity. As a classic example: a motorist approaches a checkpoint, the officer observes an open container in the vehicle while obtaining the driver's valid license, and the driver is then charged with an open container. Eight arrests resulted from the checkpoint operated by the authorities: six impaired driving arrests and two arrests for undisclosed violations. A number of citations were issued at the checkpoint for drug-related offenses. It is crucial that anyone charged / arrested immediately obtain a Charlotte criminal lawyer trained to properly analyze legal issues with a case such as the reason for the inital detention of the Defendant, the basis for the arrest, and other legal issues that are critical in such cases.