D.C. Breath Test Delayed at least until March 2012

Posted on: June 17th, 2011  |  No Comments

The well documented collapse of the D.C. Metropolitan Police breath-test system continues to plague the department, which anticipates that it will not have a new “reliable” system in place until at the the spring of 2012.

In the interim, the department will continue to rely on antiquated urine tests which, while showing the presence of alcohol, cannot reliably show a level of blood-alcohol concentrations, or a degree of intoxication.

According to The Washington Post, the District has spent over $90,000 in new equipment but, because of the systemic failures with testing procedures and protocol, that equipment has sat unused for nearly a year.

Police union chief Kris Baumann’s comments in The Washington Examiner sum up the situation:

“…the unreliable evidence yielded by a urine analysis is typical of an attorney general’s office that is not ‘serious.’

‘They’re doing busywork to make it appear that we have a functional DUI program when we don’t,’ Baumann said.”

Read more at the Washington Examiner »
Read more at the Washington Post »

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