In today's times, DUI enforcement is more organized and focused than ever. Everywhere you turn there is a public service announcement promoting strict DUI enforcement. Whether it is the 'Over the Limit, Under Arrest' campaign or the 'Drink, Drive, Go to Jail' campaign or another slogan from a powerful lobbyist and court-watching organization like MADD; DUI enforcement is serious business. Encouragement and incentives for officers to make DUI arrests come with serious consequences: false arrests. The limitations of commonly used PBTs play directly into the confirmation bias and cognitive bias that exists in DUI enforcement. It is of utmost importance that we understand and appreciate what PBTs are, how they work, and what they can and cannot do. For when we make mistakes in this field and arrest someone on an incorrect and false belief they were driving under the influence, we can have large detrimental effects on the person, their family, their freedom, their liberties, and their career that last forever. Too often it is easier for society to blindly follow 'the law' and assume that because someone is charged they must have been guilty of something. That is a dangerous assumption. It is easy to see how the improper use of PBTs can exacerbate these problems. It is important that we understand the strengths and weaknesses of this routinely used technology to avoid these undeserved harms to our fellow man.

Electro-chemical based portable breath testing:  A potentially dangerous non-specific and non-selective measure at roadside

241st National Meeting (2011)

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