AMET is not testing for drinking

[NewsWhore]

What about the breathalyzers? This is the question that citizens are asking three years after the traffic police (AMET), under the supervision of the Ministry of the Interior and the Police, made a major international purchase of breathalyzers and introduced their use as proof of driving under the influence of alcohol, a violation of Law 241. Some drivers say that the measure is not being implemented, but the Ministry and AMET assured reporters from El Caribe that the tests are carried out in strategic locations and that more than 60 are done every day. People questioned by reporters said that the tests have been reduced after the expectations created by the initial announcement generated heated debates on their use. One taxi driver, Arialdo Garcia, said, "This is not working right now, people are driving drunk, doing anything, and nobody says anything. They should get tougher on this." Deputy Minister of the Interior and Police and coordinator of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Program (COBA), Henry Castellanos, together with AMET assistant chief Lt. Colonel Ramon Abreu Feliz, assured reporters that random testing is being done all over the country. Castellanos said that people probably thought that this was going to be done all the time, and pointed out that this is not a coercive measure, "but rather, it is done randomly and according to the behavior of the driver in question. If there is suspicion then the test is carried out." Abreu Feliz said that the use of the breathalyzers was not a witch-hunt. After acquiring 1,200 devices that are not, in the United States at least, certified as evidentiary proof in courts, and hundreds of thousands of mouthpieces, the breath testing program for suspected drunk drivers was launched in March 2007. Abreu Feliz told reporters that as the AMET units learn more about the equipment and get more training, they would use it more effectively.

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