Sparta puts new drunk-driving technology on trial

SPARTA - Township police won’t fall into the role of judge and jury again, thanks to new technology for determining the blood-alcohol levels in suspected drunk motorists. Chief Ernie Reigstad said the department has tested six to eight drivers recently who failed to pass the new Alcotest, which was implemented this month to gather evidence to prosecute drunk-driving defendants. With the new test, when a motorist blows into a plastic tube, Alcotest measures and displays breath-test results from both infrared and electrochemical analysis. In comparison, the traditional Breathalyzer relies only on photometric technology that requires recalibration each time it is used. “We’ve had a number of times - especially in the past year - when the Breathalyzer was broken,” said Reigstad. “We’ve had plenty of times when a DWI case had to be tried based on the officers’ experiences.” Reigstad said the traditional Breathalyzer, which is no longer manufactured, had run its course and was difficult to have repaired. “It was a trial every time,” he said. “It had gotten to the point where repairs were too frequent. Things would go bad when we were in the middle of an observation.” Reigstad said when it became evident that the Breathalyzer was no longer functioning properly, all cases previously recorded were then subject to question. The new instrument - Alcotest 7110 - has been used in many other states, but not much in New Jersey “From the officers’ standpoint, nothing has really changed,” said Byram Police Chief Raymond Rafferty, whose department completed training on the device in February and made an arrest using the machine this month. “The arresting process is the same and the protocols are the same. The only difference is that the officers are now certified on Alcotest and the Breathalyzer.” More counties in New Jersey are beginning to implement the new breath test, despite a warning from the clerk of the State Supreme Court against expanding use of the machine, which has had its reliability questioned. Defense lawyers earlier this month began complaining after learning Alcotest was being placed this month in Sussex, Atlantic, Passaic and Cape May counties. Monmouth and Hudson counties are to get the machine in July, with Essex and Bergen scheduled for October. Morris County has been using Alcotest since last year. A county judge in December ruled against use of data from the new detectors for prosecution in the courtroom until the new units could be proven scientifically reliable. The ruling continues to allow municipal prosecutors to proceed with pleas or trials using an officer’s observations and field sobriety tests. A prosecutor who fails to win a conviction based on an officer’s observations can subsequently try a motorist using Alcotest readings once they become admissible. “The arguments are not over the machine, but certain workings of the software,” said Reigstad. “Eventually, it will work its way through the courts. We just want to make sure it’s safe and fair.” More than 76,500 drunk-driving cases have been brought to court statewide in the past two years, with some 6,000 still pending. According to the New Jersey League of Municipalities’ Web site, each Alcotest machine costs about $13,000.