Davis DWI: About Plainfield's non-working Breathalyzer

A Breathalyzer.




The newer Alcotest.

Readers have asked about Plainfield's Breathalyzer, mentioned in both the Courier and Plaintalker stories about Council Don Davis' DWI trial in Scotch Plains municipal court.

The Ledger's blog item (originally posted on Wednesday evening and giving Bernice Paglia the nod for breaking the story) had nineteen comments as of my last check -- many of them highly critical of the Plainfield police's conduct of the case, both with regard to the gathering and delivery of discovery documentation (see my post of Thursday evening on the 'missing' documentation here), and the 'non-working' Breathalyzer.

A word of clarification on the Breathalyzer. Though the term is used to describe several different kinds of tools for analyzing breath alcohol content, the actual tool used in the Davis case appears to be the newer Alcotest technology, just coming online throughout New Jersey.

First, sources tell me, breath analyzers are not the property of the local police department, but of the state. And the state is responsible for repair and/or replacement of damaged or otherwise defective equipment.

Plainfield, I am told, has had two breath analyzers, one of which has not worked for a long time and has never been repaired or replaced by the state. The other one turned out not to work when needed in the Davis matter, and the Plainfield police utilized Fanwood's equipment, under a procedure which was already in place.

The timing is of interest because New Jersey was just at that time having the courts render a decision on the new DUI test which would replace the older Breathalyzer technology, which is now about fifty years old. (For those interested, a link to an article on how the older Breathalyzers work can be found at the bottom of this post, as well as information on the Alcotest matter.)

Consequently, Plainfield was caught in a situation where the state appears to have been winding down use and repair of the old Breathalyzer equipment and not yet fully ready to proceed with the new technology, leaving local police departments -- of which Plainfield is only one -- hanging between the old and new technologies.

It is unfair to infer that the Plainfield police were somehow less than professional in the way they performed their duties in the Davis matter -- as several commentators on the Ledger blog have asserted.

A better question here would be: What is the state doing to move forward with the new technology, supply ALL local police departments with the new equipment and train and certify local police in its use?

Whether or not the flap over the discovery documentation leads Judge Inacio to reverse himself on the Breathalyzer charge, Councilor Davis still faces a charge of DWI.

The prosecution in that charge will no doubt introduce testimony concerning the Councilor's performance on standard 'field sobriety tests'. A link to New Jersey Lawnet's article explaining those field tests is provided below.

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• Plainfield Plaintalker: "Judge Dismisses Major Charge Against Davis" -- Ledger: lots of comments here.
• Courier: "Davis wins first round in court"
• Ledger blog: "Judge dismisses charge against Plainfield councilman" -- Note: The original post, citing the Plaintalker, has been supplanted by an updated story, though the COMMENTS from the original breaking news post remain.
• How Stuff Works: "How Breathalyzers Work"
• Verkammen & Associates: "The Alcotest Breath Machine"
• NJ Lawnet: "Standardized Field Sobriety Testing"

-- Dan Damon

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