As much as North Carolina lawmakers want to crack down on drunk driving, prosecutors still are required to have adequate evidence to convict. Evidence of breath testing for one has not always proved to be reliable.

Three police officers in a major metropolitan area will now be allowed to bring a whistleblower lawsuit. The officers claim that the city where they worked retaliated against them when they suggested that breathalyzer machines were improperly calibrated and were coming up with blood alcohol readings that were 30 percent too high.

The police officer allegedly were told by city attorneys to not come forward with information about how long they suspected there were problems with the machines. However, when the police officers refused to comply with the city attorneys requests, the officers were then denied a number of training opportunities that could have resulted in promotions within the department for these officers.

It has long been an erroneous assumption that failure of a breath test will lead to automatic guilt for the suspect. Such results are always open to challenge by the attorney of the individual being charged. As the above lawsuit suggests, the results of such breath tests are far from being conclusive and the science behind the testing may be flawed.

Such machines do need to be constantly calibrated to provide accurate data. And even if such machines are calibrated properly, the tests also need to be administered properly by arresting officers and individuals working in the labs.

Again, though keeping drivers under the influence off of the road is an admirable road, we always need to be careful that evidence used to convict is untainted. Otherwise all such convictions will be questioned.

Source: The Blog of LegalTimes, "D.C. Judge Greenlights Whistleblower Suit Over Breath Test Machines," by Zoe Tillman, Feb. 10, 2012