More than once, Lawrence Police Sgt. Kirk Fultz has overheard people around town talking about a planned police sobriety checkpoint.

“People are asking each other where it’s going to be and when,” Fultz said. “It’s kind of the talk of the town.”

Even though police and other law enforcement agencies don’t always tell the public exactly where checkpoints will occur, they don’t necessarily care if people know.

“You’re making more of a statement,” said Sheriff’s Lt. Don Crowe. “You’re more visible. It’s an educational process as well.”

Law enforcement agencies generally set up checkpoints in areas where they previously have found drug- or alcohol-impaired drivers or where there have been alcohol-related wrecks, officers said.

Officers who volunteer to work overtime often conduct the operations. Federal grants funneled through the Kansas Department of Transportation help pay for the extra work.

Checkpoints are not the only method of going after impaired drivers. Agencies also conduct saturation patrols in which extra officers concentrate their efforts in a certain area.

“You can cover a larger area, and you don’t need as many officers,” Crowe said. “The officers like this better.”

Lawrence Police, for example, could use as many as 20 extra officers for a checkpoint, Fultz said. A saturation patrol requires only about four officers.

The number of impaired drivers arrested during checkpoint and saturation patrols is generally not high. For sheriff’s officers, a checkpoint often nets two or three arrests. The patrols average as many as six arrests, he said.

“I think the word gets out, and a lot of people don’t drive if they’re drunk,” Fultz said.

Though law enforcement agencies are required under conditions of the grants to notify the public in advance of checkpoints and saturation patrols, they do not have to be specific about times and places.

The Kansas Highway Patrol also conducts checkpoints and saturation patrols. It sometimes works in conjunction with the sheriff’s patrols.

On March 16, troopers arrested 14 motorists for driving under the influence. That was more than were arrested during a special patrol on New Year’s Eve in Wyandotte County, a Highway Patrol spokesman said at the time.

“We think these are very effective, and we get a lot of support from people,” said Patrol Lt. John Eichkorn.