Police blame culture of quotas for fake breath tests
FRONTLINE police have broken ranks to describe the pressure officers are under to keep up with breath test quotas, with officers claiming station bosses competed for who could produce the highest statistics.
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FRONTLINE police have broken ranks to describe the pressure officers are under to keep up with breath test quotas.
A number of officers told the Herald Sun of a culture where police felt forced to fake tests so their bosses could produce impressive statistics. Officers claimed station bosses competed for who could produce the highest statistics.
“It’s a pissing contest between these blokes. It’s ridiculous,” one Highway Patrol officer said. “On paper, it (more breath tests) looks good — in reality it doesn’t work.”
Some police said they sometimes felt pressured to spend their time stopping and testing drivers even when they had more pressing cases.
VICTORIA POLICE FAKED 258,000 BREATH TESTS
UP TO $4M PULLED FROM POLICE AFTER BREATH TEST CON
FAKE BREATH TESTS COST VICTORIA POLICE FUNDING
Failure to meet targets could risk opportunities for promotion, they said. “It gets put on your PDA (performance review) that you are below standard,” one policeman said.
“Bosses don’t care about jobs you go to, they don’t care about crooks caught and drugs found … they care about stats.”
Another Highway Patrol officer said: “We just get told how many to do a day by the sergeant and do it.
“Every station is different. We have to do 75 (tests) a day normally and 150 during long weekend operations, like Labour Day, Easter.”
He said if quotas weren’t met, police had to explain to a commanding officer.
Victoria Police force command on Thursday refused to reveal how many officers were behind the fudging of more than 258,000 breath tests, or at which stations they were based.
It comes as pressure mounts on the force to scrap its controversial quota system.
The head of the state’s anti-corruption body said he was deeply concerned by the culture of faking tests and the apparent preference to turn a blind eye to the wrongdoing of workmates. It comes as the Transport Accident Commission suspended up to $4 million in funding for road trauma after discovering “anomalies” in testing statistics.
The force would not say on Thursday whether it could be dozens or hundreds of officers implicated in the scandal. But Professional Standards Command assistant commissioner Russell Barrett confirmed the practice was “widespread”.
Police on the beat have revealed they were directed to meet quotas of up to 100 breath tests per shift.
Internal memos directed “all members to increase the amount of preliminary breath tests they are performing”.
Police Association secretary Wayne Gatt said the directives led to pressure to meet unrealistic targets.
The Transport Accident Commission raised the alarm with Victoria Police last September, leading to a review of the breath tests and statistics. Funding for police road safety was suspended on May 18.
Mr Barrett said it was clear the force’s reputation had been “tarnished”. “From today on, this practice will not be tolerated,” Mr Barrett said.