CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
Just months after bashing the shit out of a mentally unwell man for being at risk of himself, the Victorian police have had to once again apologise, but this time it’s for pretending to do stuff.
This comes as the Southern Police Force has had $4 million of road safety funding suspended after an investigation revealed officers falsified more than 250,000 roadside breath tests in the state over a five year period.
It found that officers were placing a finger over the straw entry hole of breath testing equipment, or blowing into the straw themselves in an effort to bump up their numbers.
After reviewing 1,500 preliminary breath test (PBT) devices and more than 17.7 million tests conducted over five years it found more than 258,000 PBTs, or 1.5 per cent of all tests, had been falsified, and blown by sober cops from inside their own car.
The results of the other breath tests that were actually conducted on the public were not affected, police said.
This misconduct was on display earlier this morning before the news broke, when a South Brunswick father-of-three was pulled over on his way to work for a random 8:00 am breath test.
Col Ingwood (35) was rushing late to his workplace at the coffee factory when he waved in by Constable Blueswine just north of the APEX perimeter.
“Blow on here thanks mate” said the officer.
“Hurry up. We’ve got plenty more of these to do today”
After a brief confusion about the testing process, Col was told to just try his best and hurry up and give it back.
“It’s my turn” said the policeman.
While replacing the straw, the officer was seen winking at the motorist.
“One for you one for me” chuckled the policeman as he waved Col back onto the road.
