Believe it or not, police investigators do apply breathalyzer tests to their colleagues, at least in some of the cases when they are involved in accidents while driving service vehicles.
Of 138 service vehicle accidents it recorded for 2016, the Economic and Social Survey for the same year noted that breathalyzer tests were administered to 93 cops.
Unfortunately, the results of the tests were not provided, only an indication that the Inspectorate of Constabulary reinstated driving duties for 21 members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) over the same one-year period.
Of the 138 accidents in 2016, 56 officers were suspended from driving duties, while 82 members were issued with warning notices.
The accident rate among police vehicles is believed to be significantly responsible for the JCF’s continued shortage of serviceable vehicles.
The situation has resulted in a number of police stations, especially in rural parishes, experiencing a severe shortage of vehicles, including some with no unit for at least short periods of time.
Only on Wednesday of this week, a police vehicle was extensively damaged when it crashed in St Andrew.
Two JCF members were admitted in hospital in serious conditions after the vehicle in which they were travelling, crashed along Slipe Road.
Reports were that the driver of the patrol unit swerved to avoid hitting a pedal cyclist along the roadway, and the car ended up slamming into a wall.
