"Police in Ontario are vigilant when it comes to drinking
and driving, with numerous R.I.D.E. spot-checks and countless awareness
campaigns aimed at reducing carnage on our roads. But are they
inadvertently helping the very people they arrest avoid conviction? Director of Legal Policy for MADD Canada, Bob Solomon, says that
could be the case when police fail to properly maintain their
breathalyzers, creating legal loopholes that crafty lawyers are all too
quick to exploit. Solomon says police forces that don’t diligently calibrate the sensitive equipment are undoing their own hard work. “Unless the proper procedures for maintaining the machines are
carried out, then individuals should not be convicted on the basis of
machines that are not kept pursuant to the requirements of the Criminal
Code,” Solomon said. “It seems to me that it is absolutely essential
that the police maintain the machines properly and that they are
calibrated properly.” A Brampton judge recently tossed an impaired case after a scientist
testified that the breathalyzers used by police forces in Ontario,
Intoxilyzer 8000C, are unreliable. Solomon wouldn’t comment specifically on that case, but said problems
arise when police drop the ball on maintaining the machines. “It seems to me that if the standards set out are followed, then the
evidence should be admitted and people should be convicted
accordingly…These kinds of problems have happened from time to time in
other jurisdictions where the police have failed to maintain the
machines as required.""
