Sunday, December 18, 2016

Media advisory, Monday, December 19, 2016, Roadside drug-screening devices


Media advisory, Monday, December 19, 2016, Roadside drug-screening devices

Sunday, December 18, 2016 - 6:14 PM
Traffic Services:  416-808-1900

The Toronto Police Service will be participating in a pilot project to test the use of roadside screening devices for drug-impaired driving. The pilot project will begin on Monday, December 19, 2016, and will continue through to the spring of 2017. The devices will be deployed by Traffic Services offices to gather pilot-project test data.

The devices selected for use in this project are the Alere DDS 2® and the Securetec DrugWipe 5S®.

The pilot project will test how well officers are able to use certain roadside drug-testing devices on motorists, under different weather conditions, (for example, cold, rain, snow) and at night.

The project will document the experiences and feedback from officers participating in the project and assist in the development of procedures and practices for the use of oral-fluid screening devices in Canada.

Before the Toronto Police Service can begin using the devices in actual enforcement situations, there would need to be legislative changes to allow roadside drug screening to become part of the drug-impaired-driving regime. None of these devices has been approved for use in the field to aid in the formation of grounds to lay any type of charges. Further, none of these devices has been validated as police equipment. 

If a driver shows no sign of impairment, they are eligible to volunteer. If they do volunteer, and they test positive for the presence of drugs, no further criminal or administrative procedures would be pursued (i.e., no charges would be laid). 

Any samples gathered during pilot testing will never be used as evidence for the prosecution of either a criminal or administrative offence.

Participation in this project is anonymous and voluntary. Information forms will be provided to each participant for each swab taken and will be identified by a number which cannot be linked back to any personal or identifiable information.

Please download the Toronto Police Service Mobile App for iOS or Android.

For more news, visit TPSnews.ca.

Constable Caroline de Kloet, Corporate Communications, for Constable Clint Stibbe, Traffic Services

No comments:

Post a Comment