Province cancels dozens of drinking-related roadside suspensions due to mistakes involving RCMP

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – The provincial government has quietly cancelled over 70 roadside suspensions after learning RCMP had been using incorrect gas to calibrate their breathalyzers.

It’s policy that they use certified gas and they were not.

These details were obtained through a Freedom of Information request.

It’s 70 pages of correspondence between staff with the Ministry of Justice and the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles, discussing how they will tell the people affected and what the minister should say to the media if asked.

It includes a copy of the letter sent to 39 drivers in Tofino, 15 in Williams Lake, five in Agassiz, and  and 13 more in Vernon who had their roadside suspensions cancelled.

(The letter is shown below)

It also shows the province sent a second letter, detailing the reimbursement those affected received for fines and fees for the remedial programs they had to pay. The total amount the government paid out has been redacted.

It seems based on these emails, the BC government’s strategy was to reinforce how small the number of affected drivers is.

Paul Doroshenko, the lawyer who made the request, believes these cases are just a handful of examples of a bigger problem.

“The only reason it’s happening is because we started poking around and they’ve realized that they’ve got a problem and realized, ‘Oh my goodness, this is a bigger problem.’ The government’s been doing everything to keep this in the can,” he tells us.

He argues there’s no reason to believe these are the only cases.

A statement from the RCMP can be read below.

Statement from the RCMP:

On Friday, July 24th, 2015, as a result of a routine RCMP quality assurance check, it was determined that the Tofino and Vernon Detachments had used a ‘non-certified dry gas cylinder’ during the accuracy check of their Approved Screening Devices (ASD). The use of this non-certified gas cylinder was not in compliance with new training standards established in December of 2014, requiring the use of a ‘certified dry gas cylinder’. The impacted devices were found to have been used in 39 Immediate Roadside Prohibition (IRP) cases in Tofino, 13 times in Vernon, 15 times in Williams Lake and 5 times in Agassiz.

An ASD is a screening device used by officers roadside to detect the presence of alcohol in a breath sample being provided by the test subject (driver).

“The affected devices were immediately removed from service and tested using the approved process. Although the ASDs were found to be providing accurate readings, the integrity of the IRP Program is paramount in our quality assurance process, and we promptly advised the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles”, states Superintendent Derek Cooke, Officer in Charge of BC RCMP Traffic Services. “We requested that any IRPs issued by the Tofino, Vernon, Williams Lake and Agassiz detachments using the affected devices be reviewed, as the ASDs utilized were not accuracy checked using the new, approved process.”

RoadSafetyBC has since contacted the affected drivers directly, to inform them of their decision to cancel the IRPs.

In light of the findings of this quality assurance check, immediate steps were taken to ensure the validity of all 2043 ASDs utilized by the BC RCMP throughout the province.

“While the number of affected IRPs is minimal in relation to the almost 19,000 issued last year in BC, I must ensure that we maintain the public’s trust and confidence in the work we do on their behalf to remove impaired drivers from our roadways. To that end, I have personally ensured that we’re taking every necessary step to avoid this error in the future”, states Supt. Cooke.

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