About the author →
How DUIs are policed in Tustin
Tustin runs its own police department — it is not one of the 13 Orange County cities that contract with the Orange County Sheriff's Department for patrol. The Tustin Police Department, headquartered at 300 Centennial Way, handles DUI arrests inside city limits, while the California Highway Patrol handles DUI arrests on the freeways that cut through Tustin. The city's own description of its boundaries notes that the I-5 (Santa Ana) Freeway divides Tustin into north and south, and the SR-55 (Costa Mesa) Freeway divides the city's westerly portions — so a meaningful share of Tustin-area DUI stops happen on or near those two freeways, where CHP officers patrol alongside Tustin PD.
California's Office of Traffic Safety tracks DUI enforcement city by city. In its 2023 rankings, Tustin — grouped with similarly sized cities (Group C, average population 79,449) — reported 121 DUI arrests, ranking 50th out of 103 comparable cities, and 29 victims killed or injured in alcohol-involved collisions, ranking 58th out of 103. Those numbers put Tustin in the middle of the pack for its size class, not an outlier, but they confirm that DUI enforcement here is active and ongoing, not occasional.
- Tustin Police Department's Traffic Unit runs DUI/driver's-license checkpoints and saturation patrols, typically funded by California Office of Traffic Safety grants, running from evening hours into the early morning.
- The California Highway Patrol handles DUI arrests on I-5 and SR-55 within and near Tustin; CHP and Tustin PD DUI operations are sometimes coordinated.
- Tustin PD — not the Orange County Sheriff's Department — is the city's primary patrol agency; Tustin is one of 21 Orange County cities that run their own police department rather than contracting with OCSD.
Where a Tustin DUI case is heard
A DUI arrest made by Tustin police, or by CHP within Tustin, is filed at the Orange County Superior Court's Central Justice Center in Santa Ana. The court's own location page lists its city-based jurisdiction as exactly four cities — Orange, Santa Ana, Tustin, and Villa Park — so a Tustin misdemeanor DUI stays in that building from arraignment through trial. The Central Justice Center is also the county's felony hub, hearing felony and mental-health matters from every Orange County city, so a Tustin DUI charged as a felony (for example, a DUI causing injury) is arraigned at the same courthouse. The Orange County District Attorney's Office — not the Tustin City Attorney — decides what to charge and prosecutes the case.
Central Justice Center — court & booking details
Booked at the county's Intake Release Center, not a Tustin city jail
Tustin does not run a long-term jail of its own. Someone arrested for DUI by Tustin PD is typically transported to the Orange County Sheriff's Intake Release Center (IRC) at 550 North Flower Street in Santa Ana, which the Sheriff's Department describes as the entry point responsible for processing all individuals being booked into, and released from, the Orange County Jail system — including medical and mental-health screening and classification. Depending on that classification, a person may later be transferred to the Theo Lacy Facility in the city of Orange or the James A. Musick Facility in Irvine. The IRC's bail cashier window is open 24 hours a day.
The vehicle itself is a separate problem. If Tustin PD impounds the car directly under a routine arrest tow — rather than it being held under California's 30-day impound law for suspended or unlicensed driving (Vehicle Code §14602.6, which applies only if you were driving on a suspended, revoked, or no valid license, not to every DUI arrest) — Tustin PD's own release process requires proof of ownership and current registration, valid identification, a valid driver's license (or a licensed driver with you), proof of current insurance, and a $50 vehicle release fee, handled at the department's front lobby, 300 Centennial Way, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The vehicle also cannot have unpaid parking citations. If the car was impounded under the 30-day hold instead, state law generally keeps it at the storage yard for the full period regardless of release paperwork, subject to limited exceptions and a right to request a post-storage hearing.
The District at Tustin Legacy, the blimp hangars, and getting around during a suspension
Much of Tustin's commercial density sits on a piece of aviation history. The city's eastern side includes Tustin Legacy, built on the former Marine Corps Air Station Tustin, a Marine helicopter base that closed in 1999. Two giant wooden blimp hangars built in 1942 — among the largest free-standing wooden structures in the world — still stand there; one is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and was designated a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers in 1993. (The other hangar, Hangar 1, was destroyed by fire in November 2023.) The District at Tustin Legacy, an outdoor shopping, dining, and entertainment center built on part of the former base off Jamboree Road, draws large volumes of evening and weekend visitors to its movie theater, restaurants, and bars — the kind of traffic pattern that typically draws DUI patrol attention in any Orange County city with a comparable entertainment draw.
A license suspension does not end the need to get around. Tustin Station, at 2975 Edinger Avenue, is served by Metrolink's Orange County Line and Inland Empire–Orange County Line, plus OCTA local routes 70, 72, and 90 and StationLink routes 472 and 473. Routes and schedules change, so check OCTA's trip planner directly before the morning of a hearing. Read more about what a suspension does and does not allow on our license suspension page.
Where will my Tustin DUI case be heard?
Does Tustin have its own police department, or does the Sheriff patrol the city?
Where was I booked after a Tustin DUI arrest?
How do I get my car back after a DUI arrest in Tustin?
How bad is DUI enforcement in Tustin?
← Back to Orange County DUI Defense
Ron defends DUI cases across Southern California from his Irvine office, in English and Farsi — and works directly with you, not a call center.
Learn more about Ron Chini →