New blood-alcohol devices slow to catch on in Ohio

July 31, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

A new device for testing suspected drunken drivers in the field has not dramatically changed the way Ohio law-enforcement officials do their job, a newspaper reported Friday.

Police began using the portable breath-test device 15 months ago, but it is available in only 51 of the state’s 88 counties, and none is in Ohio’s major urban areas, The Columbus Dispatch said. Also, only about 80 of the 700 machines purchased by the state are in use.

Lindsay Komlanc, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Public Safety, said all law-enforcement agencies that currently have old breath-testing instruments eventually will get the new machines but couldn’t say when.

Ohio spent $6.4 million for the devices, which have been subject to legal challenges in other states that question whether the machines are reliably accurate. CMI Inc., an Owensboro, Ky.-based company that makes the device, stands by the accuracy of its product.

Komlanc said test results from the device, known as the Intoxilyzer 8000, have drawn one legal challenge, which was in Clermont County near Cincinnati. It was unsuccessful.

Unlike older machines, the Intoxilyzer 8000 can easily be carried in the trunk of a police car and used in the field. That means suspected drunken drivers can be tested on the spot by blowing into a tube, as opposed to a time-consuming journey to and from a police station.

Ohio State Highway Patrol Sgt. Corey Wright said the new machine is a time-saver and eliminates a lot of paperwork. He’s administered about 20 tests on the Intoxilyzer 8000 and discounts arguments that the results are unreliable.