One of our lawyers is a member of the California DUI Lawyer’s Association, so we follow the goings on with drinking/driving law in the Golden State. The authorities there are now dealing with revelations of roadside breath tests tainted by improper calibration.
Although much of the law is different, there are a few similarities. There is a movement to deciding matters with government tribunals. And there are always problems with breath-testing machines. Most recently the defence lawyers in San Fransisco revealed that the police had not been calibrating their Alco-Sensor IV roadside breath testers. This is a problem our office has found here in BC. (See: here, here and here to start)
In California the police are required to test for calibration every 10 days or after 150 tests, whichever comes first. In British Columbia we use the same device (we call it an ASD) and the police only need to test it every 30 days with no limit on the number of tests.
It is believed that thousands of investigations have been tainted by incorrectly calibrated ASDs. The District Attorney is now involved and all of the cases are being reviewed.
With the IRP scheme in BC we revealed similar problems in Port Moody, Vancouver, Kamloops, Kitimat, Abbotsford and we have disclosure showing many of the same problems in other police forces. These devices were relied on to issue people 90-day IRPs with a 30-day vehicle impound, fines, interlock, RDP, etc.
Sadly, in BC the Government managed to take lawyers out of the equation with the IRP scheme. The District Attorney, recognizing the wrong that has been done, concluded that their office was obliged to investigate and put things right when a mis-calibrated device had been used as the main source of evidence to punish people. In BC, by moving everything away from the prosecution service, the Government has managed to continue to get away with punishing people on the basis of faulty ASD readings.
You can learn more about the situation in San Fransisco here:
DUIs in SF Tainted by Cops’ Negligence? http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/07/tagblogsfindlawcom2012-blotter-idUS97695714720120307
SF DUI cases could be tossed: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2012/03/06/state/n053953S79.DTL#ixzz1obN6YcaR
DUI convictions at risk following SFPD revelations: http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/crime/2012/03/dui-convictions-risk-following-sfpd-revelations