Police officers in this state faked 258,000 breath tests over five years
An internal report has discovered Victorian police officers faked more than 250,000 random preliminary roadside breath tests (PBTs) over five years.
The report found more than 1.5 per cent of 17.7 million tests were falsified by officers.
It is believed officers blew into the straw breathalysers themselves to meet quotas or to avoid breath testing motorists.
Victoria Police issued a statement on Wednesday night saying they had “let the community down”.
The statement admitted the practice involves “an officer either (placing) a finger over the straw entry hole or (blowing) into the straw themselves”.
“It is believed the self-testing activity has been largely undertaken by general duties and highway patrol members, with some rural areas over-represented,” the statement said.
“It is not a practice found to be performed at supervised drug and alcohol bus testing sites.”
The activity was first reported to Victoria Police late last year and an intelligence assessment was ordered assessing five years of data, 1500 PBT devices and more than 17.7 million tests.
“Disappointingly (the tests) found 258,463 PBTs or 1.5 per cent of all tests had been falsified,” Professional Standards Command Assistant Commissioner Russell Barrett said.
“This conduct will not be tolerated, any member found engaging in this practice from today has been put on notice they will be investigated.
“I had not heard of our members engaging in such a practice, we let ourselves down, we’ve let the community down. It stops now.”
Victoria Police will appoint an external investigator to find “the root causes of the behaviour”, “underlying cultural and behavioural issues” and “supervision and management practices that resulted in the behaviour continuing to go unchecked”.
“The question we all asked was ‘why?’ There could be a number of reasons but the main rationale I believe is to hide or highlight productivity,” AC Barrett said.
“Whatever reason our workforce may come up with, it isn’t acceptable.
“As disappointing as this is, it should be noted that, at this stage in the investigation, there is no evidence to suggest fraud or any criminality has occurred. Similarly, there is nothing to suggest that any of this activity has impacted on any prosecutions.”
Police are looking to see how to future-proof testing devices.
“In moving forward we are looking into a number of options for improving and increasing our internal controls and accountability in regard to our testing regime,” AC Barrett said.
“We are considering the feasibility of regular audits, the ability for the PBT to include the detail of the operator and quality assurance measures.”