VANCOUVER — British Columbia police expect to scale back their roadside screening program aimed at catching drunk drivers during the holiday season in the wake of a court ruling striking down their ability to issue hefty prohibitions and penalties on the spot.
West Vancouver Police Chief Peter Lepine, president of the B.C. Association of Chiefs of Police, said the court ruling will have a significant impact on the way drunk drivers are handled by police.
That’s because the court ruling means police will have to return to the previous process of issuing suspected drunk drivers a roadside test, then taking the ones who have blown over the legal blood-alcohol limit back to a police station for a more sophisticated test with a lawyer present.
Lepine said it takes up to 10 times longer to process a driver that way and there are only so many staff to go around.
“We’ll either have to add more resources to the . . . program and divert our resources from other policing areas or we’ll shorten the time limit that we do the program and we’ll do the best with what we have.”
He said police across the province are already operating under the old rules following the court judgment Wednesday.
Under the new laws, the penalties were handed out, often without charges ever being laid. But Justice Jon Sigurdson also found motorists had no recourse to challenge the readings, which were not recorded anywhere.
“The (automatic roadside prohibition) regime that imposes prohibitions for drivers who fail at the roadside does not appropriately balance the rights of individuals and society at large,” he wrote.
But a lawyer for a group of up to 80 people involved in the court case arguing the new rules were unconstitutional says he is considering an appeal on the grounds the judge didn’t go far enough in rejecting all aspects of the law.
Jeremy Carr said he is disappointed that the judge found lighter penalties for people who blow between .05 and .08 in the same test are valid.
“On one hand, I’m very happy with it,” said Carr, a Victoria lawyer who specializes in drunk driving cases.
“But on the other hand, we’re very disappointed. We believe very strongly we had an argument in regards to other issues that the court felt wasn’t strong enough.”
But Sigurdson concluded the similar, but lighter penalties imposed on drivers who blew between .05 and .08 were justified. And he rejected the argument that the province had no jurisdiction to make the laws, that they trod on federal turf.
Solicitor General Shirley Bond said her government is pleased with the ruling and rather than appealing, she said she will act as soon as possible to make changes to ensure the penalties conform to the constitution.
Lepine suggested police chiefs are worried changes will dilute the law.
“The bottom line for police at all levels in this province has always been that the Immediate Roadside Prohibition program saved lives,” he said in a news release.