DUI Attorney in Cerritos

Reviewed by Ron Chini, Esq. · CA State Bar No. 263308 · DUI defense attorney in Irvine, CA since 2009.
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How DUIs are policed in Cerritos

Cerritos has never had its own, independent police department. Since the city incorporated on April 24, 1956, it has instead contracted with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD) for all patrol and investigative services. The arrangement is housed today at the Cerritos Sheriff's Station — officially the Cerritos Community Safety Center — a dedicated facility inside the Cerritos Civic Center at 18135 Bloomfield Avenue, opened in 1997 and staffed by roughly 80 sworn deputies and support personnel. A DUI stop anywhere in Cerritos, from South Street to the Civic Center loop, is handled by these contract deputies, not by a separate municipal force.

Freeway DUI stops near Cerritos — on the I-605/SR-91 interchange that borders the city — more often involve the California Highway Patrol's Santa Fe Springs Area Office, which has primary jurisdiction over those freeways running through this part of southeast Los Angeles County.

• LASD, Cerritos Sheriff's Station (Community Safety Center) — surface-street and neighborhood DUI stops
• CHP, Santa Fe Springs Area Office — I-605 and SR-91 freeway DUI stops near Cerritos
• Both agencies route arrests to the same court and the same 10-day DMV clock

Where a Cerritos DUI case is heard

Whether the arrest comes from a Sheriff's deputy or a CHP officer, a Cerritos DUI case is filed at the Bellflower Courthouse, part of the Los Angeles County Superior Court's Southeast District. The courthouse's own jurisdiction covers Artesia, Bellflower, Cerritos, Hawaiian Gardens, and Lakewood. Cerritos has no city prosecutor for criminal cases, so misdemeanor and felony DUI charges here are both handled by the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office rather than a city attorney.

Booking and getting a car back after a Cerritos arrest

A DUI arrest in Cerritos is typically booked first at the Cerritos Sheriff's Station itself — the Community Safety Center has its own on-site booking and custody area with holding cells, since it serves as a working county jail intake point as well as a patrol station. Depending on the circumstances, a person may be released from the station on cite-and-release or bail, or transferred downtown to the Inmate Reception Center / Twin Towers Correctional Facility (450 Bauchet St., Los Angeles, CA 90012) for men, or the Century Regional Detention Facility (11705 S. Alameda St., Lynwood, CA 90262) for women, for further processing. A vehicle impounded in a Cerritos DUI stop is generally held at a tow yard under contract with the Sheriff's Station; ask the booking deputy or call the station directly for the specific release process and fees.

Cerritos: a planned city built around its library, mall, and a major Asian-American community

A Cerritos DUI charge lands in a city with a distinct identity, and it's worth knowing what makes the city itself different from its courthouse neighbors. Cerritos is a careful, master-planned suburb — roughly 60% of residents are Asian American, with large Filipino, Korean, Chinese, Indian, and Taiwanese communities, making it one of the highest-concentration Asian-American cities in the country. Its civic centerpiece is the Cerritos Library, originally dedicated in 1973 in honor of First Lady Patricia Nixon (a Cerritos native), then rebuilt and expanded in 2002 into an 88,500-square-foot building that was the first in the United States clad in titanium — an award-winning 'Experience Library' built around themed spaces, including a 15,000-gallon saltwater aquarium in its children's wing. Retail-wise, the city is anchored by two separate developments: the 1.3-million-square-foot Los Cerritos Center mall (open since 1971) and the mixed-use Cerritos Towne Center, home to the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts. None of this changes where a DUI case is filed, but it shapes the community a Cerritos DUI defense has to be built around.

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Ron Chini, Esq.

DUI Defense Attorney · CA State Bar No. 263308

Ron defends DUI cases across Southern California from his Irvine office, in English and Farsi — and works directly with you, not a call center.

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