Calgary police to expand use of breathalyzer tests

CALGARY (660 NEWS) — Moving forward, every single driver stopped by police in Calgary can expect to blow a breathalyzer test.

Since December 2018, police in Canada have been able to demand preliminary samples without reasonable suspicion that drivers have alcohol in their bodies.

Calgary police have taken more than 15,600 samples since the force started mandatory checks more than a year ago. Those have resulted in 142 Criminal Code charges and 359 provincial sanctions.

However, those screenings were only done by around eight units on the force — either in the traffic unit or officers manning Checkstops.

READ MORE: Calgary father found guilty in death of daughter in 2016 crash

But now, all frontline officers are equipped with alcohol screening devices as it expands roadside tests for drivers.

“You should expect in Calgary that if a policeman stops you, when they approach your vehicle, they may ask you to provide a breath sample, it’s going to be the first thing that they do,” Constable Andrew Fairman said.

Const. Fairman adds the test should only take a few seconds and will take less than a minute to get the result.

https://twitter.com/Tommy_Slick/status/1222988010632839168

“When they’re doing it, they need to do it with everybody,” Const. Fairman said. “There’s no picking on anybody in particular, the legislation is that every motorist is to supply a sample, so every police officer if they’re doing mandatory alcohol screening, needs to do it with everybody.”

Now, this doesn’t mean motorists can be stopped just to perform a breathalyzer test, unless you are driving through a Checkstop.

“You’re going to have to be doing something to indicate to us that we need to stop and check.”

After the legislation was passed, Calgary police upped their breathalyzer stock from 160 to the 300 that will head out with officers each day, and also trained all new recruits on how to use them.

https://twitter.com/Tommy_Slick/status/1222981809207529472

While Const. Fairman says the increase in tests can only have a positive impact on the roads, some believe the new federal impaired driving law is unconstitutional.

“This is what we call a warrantless, groundless, search and seizure,” president of the Calgary-based Criminal Defence Lawyers Association Ian Savage said. “The Supreme Court of Canada has upheld under the charter the right of people to not be searched or have substances seized from them, including their breath, without proper grounds.”

Savage says from his experience, police have not hesitated to use their “new powers” since the legislation came into effect.

READ MORE: Impaired driving believed to be the cause of crashes on Stoney Trail: CPS

“Knowing that there have been constitutional challenges filed in this country, to that law, its very brazen and I am surprised to see it,” Vancouver-based impaired driving lawyer Kyla Lee said.

Court challenges have been filed previously arguing that seizing breath samples from someone without grounds violates their charter rights.

The expanded screening has been authorized in over 40 countries, with authorities in Ireland crediting it for a 40 per cent reduction in traffic deaths in four years.

Cst. Fairman was also asked about cannabis screening, and said this new rule does not apply to detecting impairment by drugs.

However, they are still training officers on how to detect cannabis use in drivers and continue to be on the lookout for approved technology that can help them.

– With files from The Canadian Press