Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
New Intoxilyzers have been installed at six locations in Linn County as part of the Oregon State Police Forensic Services Division’s effort to replace 12-year-old models across the state.
The new Intoxilyzer 8000 was installed in October at Sweet Home, Lebanon and Albany police departments and the Oregon State Police Albany Area Command Office, Linn County Sheriff’s Office at Mill City and the Linn County Jail.
The device replaces the Intoxilyzer 5000 but uses similar technology, meaning that the upgrade is less costly.
One of the main differences between the 5000 and 8000 is that the 8000 takes two samples and averages the result to determine blood alcohol content, Sweet Home Police Sgt. Jason Van Eck said. It also requires an officer’s card and personal identification number to make sure only certified personnel use it.
Refusing to blow into the device either time results in a refusal charge and a penalty of $1,000 and license suspension, Van Eck said.
People fight driving-under-the-influence charges all the time, Van Eck said. “It should help law enforcement. I’m hoping it’ll be a benefit to us. It’ll be harder to argue that the machine didn’t read it right.”
The machine still operates in the same way the old ones did, Van Eck said, except that it requires a suspect to blow into it twice, with a three-minute wait in between.
Sweet Home officers went through four hours of training, Van Eck said, but the training was not just about the device. It also served as a refresher course on the laws about drunken driving.
Oregon State Police Forensics Division is installing nearly 130 Intoxilyzer breath testing units across the state, including 25 new locations. The task should be finished by spring. OSP installs, maintains and tests the equipment at each location.
The total cost of the project is about $1.7 million paid for through the state budget and grant dollars from the Oregon Department of Transportation. The cost of each unit is $8,575.
The devices are manufactured by CMI, Inc., based in Owensboro, Ky. It was introduced to the market in 2003 and is also in use in Arizona, California, Florida, Mississippi, Ohio and Utah.