Law enforcement once hoped that the creation of an alcohol test, one that could be used in police headquarters, would decrease the incidence of drunk driving. As their hopes dimmed somewhat, those same law enforcement officers turned their attention to information about the deep lung breath analyzer. Yet those same officers had to face a stark reality. They knew that widespread use of the deep lung breath analyzer would not develop overnight. They knew too how long it had taken for the public to agree to “buckle-up” whenever proceeding down a highway or surface street in a motored vehicle with 4 or more wheels.
In the spring of 2006 the policemen in Culver City, CA waited anxiously for the results of the City-wide election. They sensed that those results might affect the progress toward expanded use of the deep lung breath analyzer. They knew the purpose of that analyzer, and they knew the income-base of one candidate for City Council.
One candidate, a charming man with an Irish accent, owned a bar. He obviously relied on the appeal of alcohol in order to earn a living. The police in Culver City did not expect him to purchase a car with a deep lung breath analyzer. In fact, they did not expect any member of the City Council to buy a car with such an analyzer.
The Culver City police did, however, know of City vehicles on which they hoped for installation of a deep lung breath analyzer. Still such installation would require taxpayer dollars. The Culver City police did not think that a Councilman with a bar would support a drive for money to cover such an installation.
By the same token, those police officers saw a real need for the deep lung breath analyzer. They could see the advantage to using such an analyzer on the City-owned vehicles. They could even appreciate the benefits of putting such an analyzer on the training vehicle at the high school.
The Culver City police wanted young teens to get a first-hand look at how technology can control the bad habits of every member of a society. The police knew that a car with a deep lung breath analyzer would never have a drunk at the wheel. They knew that such a car would not start if the driver had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.025% or higher
The police had approached one of the High School instructors about teaching the students about those in-car breath analyzers. They had spoken with an instructor who also had a class for Alcoholic Anonymous. The Culver City police wanted to alert any heavy drinkers to the fact that their ability to cover-up their inebriated state would not last for very long.
The existing cover-ups available to those who wanted to drink and drive relied on disguising the alcohol from a shallow region of the lungs. The BAC could easily be altered prior to the introduction of such a testing device. It would, however, be almost impossible to adulterate the actual BAC, as measured by a deep lung breath analyzer.
That’s why the police in Culver City hoped that the City Council would not contain a member who had the backing of a large number of bar visitors.