Police targeting reduces breath testing
Police have carried out nearly half a million fewer breath tests in the latest year, with new figures showing big drops in the number of tests in Auckland, Hawke’s Bay/Gisborne and Counties Manukau.
In the 2014-15 year, police undertook 2,555,957 breath-alcohol tests, 457,315 fewer than the three million the previous year.
Road policing national operations manager Inspector Peter McKennie said the overall drop was a reflection of police being ‘‘a little bit smarter about how we do things’’ by targeting specific ‘‘hot’’ areas and events, rather than concentrating on high traffic areas.
Auckland had the greatest drop in the number of tests, with 41.5 per cent fewer at 82,757. That was followed by Eastern (Hawke’s Bay/Gisborne) with a 33 per cent drop to 106,422, Counties Manukau down 30 per cent, Waitemata down 27 per cent and Tasman and Bay of Plenty, which were both down 22 per cent.
The only districts to conduct more breath tests were Northern, up 21 per cent to 140,051, and Central, which was up 3.9 per cent to 256,981.
McKennie said targets might be certain events or ‘‘known hotels, sports clubs, that sort of thing, which don’t necessarily get the high level of breath tests but are still very strategic in terms of preventing alcohol harm on the road’’.
‘‘Previously we did a lot of highvolume checkpoints run on the theory that high visibility around checkpoints would deter a greater proportion of public from drinking and driving.
‘‘We’re still doing the high-visibility stuff, but we’re now balancing it up a bit more with targeting known hot locations.
‘‘We might not get the higher volumes of vehicles going through our checkpoints, and not breathtesting as many.’’
He said staffing requirements had not changed, and the overall cost was much the same.
‘‘There are less tests, but it still involves the same number of staff and the same amount of hours. We know that some people drink and drive and take risks on the premise that they know where police set up high-volume checkpoints . . . and take alternative routes.’’ Four hundred new breath-testing units, the Draeger 7510, are being introduced at present. Unlike the Draeger 6510 now in use, the new units will be capable of taking evidential breath tests.
‘‘Previously we’d have to take someone to a booze bus or a police station to do that test. With the new devices, we do it at the roadside,’’ McKennie said.
Police will use the devices to administer three tests. The first is a passive test, which detects whether a driver has been drinking. Then they administer the screening test, which concludes whether the driver is above or below the limit for their age.
Finally, if the driver’s breathalcohol is too high, the officer will administer the evidential test, to get the official result.
In 2012-13 there were 2,952,138 tests taken. In 2011-12 there were 2,721,876 and in 2010-11 there were 2,548,469.