Cops introduce measures to address breathalyzers’ shortcomings

CHENNAI: With a citizen being subjected to harassment by police after a breathalyzer showed positive for a non-drunk person, Chennai city traffic police has come up with new measures to overcome such issues.

Additional Commissioner of Police, Traffic, Kapil Kumar C Saratkar said that in order to identify if the machine used is faulty, police on duty will check the machine with three different sober personnel. “In the other case, if the breathalyzer shows that an individual is drunk but the person contests that they are not, police have been instructed to try two more times in different time interval to make sure the readings are correct,” said Saratkar.

He added that if the individual wishes to take medical tests, police have been instructed to accompany them to the nearby hospital.

On Monday night the breathalyzer showed Deepak, from Saligramam, was drunk. Deepak stood his ground and claimed that police are using faulty machines. After checking with other machine, Deepak’s claims proved right. A video of the exchange between Deepak and the policeman went viral on social media which has prompted the city police to clarify.

Sathyanarayanan, an executive with Medical sensors India private limited, the company that provides breathalyzers to the city police said that in some cases, in cases where occupants other than the driver are drunk, such readings might happen as the driver is prone to inhale the same air particles. “While this is not common, it could happen since the machine is an electrochemical sensor-based equipment,” he said.