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Using Discretion


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http://englishnews.t...ve-alcohol-test

 

Bangkok Metropolitan Police Commissioner Pol Lt-Gen Sriwara Rangsitpramkul urged metropolitan police at alcohol checkpoints to use discretion in ordering motorists to take breathalyzer test. His call came after he himself was stopped by police at checkpoints two months ago twice for breathalyzer test although he insisted that he did not drink.

 

In one incident, he recalled that he was told five times to take breathalyzer test by an assistant volunteer to the police although he insisted that he did not drink. Angered by the repeated order, he came out of his car and took the test. As he was off-duty and was not in police uniform, the police manning the alcohol checkpoint did not even recognize he is the metropolitan police commissioner, he said. But he said he eventually had to tell them who he was and then criticize them.

 

He said if assistant volunteers aiding the police were good observant people, they should have realized that he didn’t smell of any alcohol.

The Bangkok police chief then said that setting alcohol checkpoints to check drunk driving is a good duty but that the police should use discretion too in ordering drivers to have breathalyzer test or else it would waste their time.

 

He said as the vehicle was stopped by police for alcohol test, first encounter with driver during conversation should at least enable the officer to know whether the driver had drink before or not, from the alcohol smell. If there was no alcohol smell, then the officer should stop asking driver for the test as it would waste time, he said.

 

Earlier this year, an amendment to the land transport legislation was passed. It empowers the police to order driver for breathalyzer test, or order driver out of the car to see if the driver could balance his walking test. Failure to abide by the order, it allows police to suspect the driver is drunk and legal action could be taken against him for driving drunk.

 

A female driver had been earlier sentenced by the Bangkok South District Court to serve three months in prison and a fine of 8,500 baht when she resisted police order for breathalyzer test. But the prison sentence was suspended with social charity work for 24 hours instead.

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