The Police Commander responsible for Metropolitan Road Policing in the Auckland Region, Superintendent Roger Carson (North Shore Waitakere Rodney District), said the Traffic Alcohol Group, sometimes incorrectly referred to as the CBT Squad, has been independently assessed on more than one occasion in the last two years as the model of best practice for Traffic Alcohol Law enforcement in Australasia.
Standards of policing practice and procedure have been strengthened and significantly improved since the events of 1999 referred to in this morning's New Zealand Herald article.
Management of the unit is robust, and the police staff working in the essential area of road safety across the Auckland Region and into Northland are achieving excellent results.
For example, in the last four years the Traffic Alcohol Group have reduced the percentile of motorists detected driving above the legal alcohol/breath limit from over 4% to less than 0.21%.
In excess of 17,000 motorists are spoken to at Check Points every week and Superintendent Carson says "it is clear the efforts of the dedicated Police staff working in this area are getting the message through that drinking and driving do not mix and will not be tolerated".
Released by Rebekah Holt, North Shore/Waitakere/Rodney District Communications Manager on 025 662 89 10.
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