Breath Testing & QC

I assume that my breath test operators are like many of yours. They do not know anything about what they are doing, and frankly, they don’t care. They believe that by burying their heads in the sand, they are able to rely upon their lack of knowledge about breath testing as a defense to your cross-examination.

While the officers may try to hide behind ignorance, they should still be cross-examined on the scientific requirements for reliable and accurate breath testing procedures. Either they acknowledge the absence of the procedure, or they demonstrate they do not know the procedure, and therefore, their claim of a reliable test is worthless.

In preparing for your cross, the virtual library provides numerous studies related to breathing testing and quality assurance.

Print out a copy and send it to the maintenance officer. Either she will read it, and she will have the foundation to answer that “yes” is the standard and “no” we don’t do it. In the alternative, she will have to acknowledge that she did not read it, did not determine the standards necessary for reliability, and her opinion about the reliability of the test is questionable, at best.

Relying on scientific articles to demonstrate the witness’s lack of training, experience, and ability to opine about the reliability and accuracy of a breath test result is just one more arrow in our quiver, and the virtual library can assist in filling it.