Earlier in December, the Regina Police announced a new mobile testing unit that will be used to speed up drug and alcohol testing. The new vehicle will act as a laboratory, equipped with advanced breathalyzer and oral fluid testing devices that will allow police officers to legally detect and confirm impairment due to alcohol and other drugs without taking suspects back to the police station. While the officers will still be required to bring suspected impaired drivers to the station, their processing will be faster without the added step of testing them upon arrival.
“The average impaired driver takes us four hours from start to finish for an investigation, and it takes four police officers to conduct the investigation,” Cpl. Ross Kauk said in his interview with CBC News. “With this tool, it now cuts us down to about an hour for the investigation, and now two officers instead of four.”
The unit will hopefully also add some public awareness to the abilities the Regina Police now have to complete investigations for impaired driving. Insp. Shawn Fenwick pointed out this visibility could have some some positive impact and deter some from getting behind the wheel while impaired, “I think drug impaired driving right now is becoming more prevalent than ever before,” he said. “So we want to change that mindset and make people change their behaviour.” Although the Regina Police did see a slight decrease of impaired driving in 2024 they point out that impaired driving is still the cause of thirty-eight percent of deaths occurring on the road.
The new mobile testing unit was acquired as a result of a partnership between Regina Police and Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI). Specifically, SGI made a contribution of $25,000, the same amount it previously contributed to the Saskatoon Police Service to develop a mobile lab.
An average of 2,500 drivers are checked for impairment at check stops in the city every year but the amount arrested is a fraction of that. Cpl. Kauk noted that of about 1,000 tests for impaired driving completed that only 50 people were arrested for driving while impaired by drugs in 2023. Kauk notes this was not because there weren’t people committing the crime but because they police did not have the necessary tools available to them to process and test the impaired individuals.
