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Reliability: Ambient Conditions

Nov 30, 2022
8 min

Reliability: Ambient Conditions

Tip 41: Changing breath room ambient conditions can reduce "system calibration check" and "system blank test" reliability. Any infrared-based approved instrument such as the Intoxilyzer® 8000C has no true zero. Zero floats up and down depending on, inter alia, the environment of the breath room and the sample chamber. Adding some ethyl alcohol to the room air affects the air sucked into the breath tube and then into the sample chamber during an air blank. Zero needs to be re-

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Study the Block Diagram in the Wet-Bath Simulator Manufacturer's Manual

Nov 17, 2022
3 min

Study the Block Diagram in the Wet-Bath Simulator Manufacturer's Manual

Tip 25: Obtain a copy of the Guth Laboratories, Inc. wet-bath "Model 2100 Simulator Operation Manual" and study the "Model 2100-Block Diagram" at page 13. Notice the "Display Section-34.0C- Multiplexed Display Driver" and "RS-232 Level Converter". These two temperature data output systems are connected to the "8051 Micro Controller". Their source of temperature information appears to be the one micro controller. They do not appear to have sources of temperature information in

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Calibration Check on Periodic Inspection of Wet-bath Simulator

Nov 10, 2022
2 min

Calibration Check on Periodic Inspection of Wet-bath Simulator

Tip 27: Does the Inspector use a traceable reference thermometer, that is accurate and precise, to at least two decimal places, to verify, annually or semi-annually, that the wet-bath and any other accessory equipment continue to meet the manufacturer’s specifications? As noted in an earlier tip, the manufacturer's specification for Guth 2100 temperature stability is 34.00 ±.05° C. and not 34.0 ±.2° C.. Unless a police or other Inspector is using a traceable reference thermo

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Continuity of Alcohol Standard: CalGuard Feature

Nov 3, 2022
3 min

Continuity of Alcohol Standard: CalGuard Feature

Tip 40: Some police services take the position that they don't need to use seals between the simulator housing and the jar. Failure to use and record alphanumeric seals deserves thorough cross-examination. Some police services also take the position that they do not need to follow the CFS 8000C Training Aid Appendix "E" example of an Alcohol Standard Log. Perhaps it is unfortunate that members of the defence Bar have not been as diligent as they could be in cross-examination

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Continuity: Write on Empty Bottle

Oct 26, 2022
2 min

Continuity: Write on Empty Bottle

Tip 35: The simplest method of communicating the last change date of the alcohol standard solution placed into the wet-bath simulator is simply to leave the empty bottle on the Intoxilyzer desk with the change date written on the bottle. The next and any subsequent qualified technician then reads the handwritten notation from the empty bottle and copies it into his or her notebook and communicates to the Court that the solution was Manufacturer xyz, lot number was 123, change

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Continuity: From the Box

Oct 15, 2022
4 min

Continuity: From the Box

Tip 37: Defence lawyers need to study the video - does the qualified technician take a random (unrelated to the matter before the Court) bottle of alcohol standard out of a box in a cabinet in the breath room and use that bottle to identify the clear alcohol standard poured previously by another QT from another bottle, already in the wet-bath simulator? At least one Qualified Technician has been observed, appearing to identify, the clear solution inside the wet-bath simulator

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Certificate of Calibration of a NIST mercury thermometer

Oct 6, 2022
1 min

Certificate of Calibration of a NIST mercury thermometer

Tip 14: Whenever police purchase a new NIST mercury thermometer, the Canadian distributor provides them with a "Guth Laboratories, Inc. Certificate of Calibration". The Certificate of Calibration indicates the serial number of the new thermometer, described therein as a "NIST REFERENCE THERMOMETER (SIMULATOR)" and the serial number of the "NIST LAB STANDARD (MASTER)" thermometer which in turn is indicated as traceable. The serial number of the new NIST mercury thermometer is

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Continuity: Use of a Seal

Oct 3, 2022
2 min

Continuity: Use of a Seal

Tip 38: One of the best ways to control wet-bath simulator alcohol standard continuity is to use alphanumeric police seals and record their numbers/codes in the Alcohol Standard Log (both outgoing and incoming), in the solution change officer's notes (both outgoing and incoming), and in the subject breath test QT officer's notes. A seal between the upper housing and the jar ensures that no one has tampered with the solution between the time the seal is applied and the time it

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Continuity: Whiteboard or blackboard method

Sep 30, 2022
1 min

Continuity: Whiteboard or blackboard method

Tip 36: Some police detachments have been known to write the manufacturer name, lot number, name/badge of solution change officer, date/time of change and other information on a whiteboard or blackboard. The whiteboard can easily be erased, altered, or amended by any officer using the breath room. This image was obtained as the result of a defence photographer having access to the breath room in R. v. D. at Brampton. The matter was eventually resolved under the Highway Traffi

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Appendix E: Location & Anecdotal Notes in Log

Sep 16, 2022
2 min

Appendix E: Location & Anecdotal Notes in Log

Tip 30: The CFS 8000C Training Aid of 2013 at page 191 of 238, Appendix "E" recommends that the Alcohol Standard Log, updated by the solution change QT, and referred to by the subject test QT include, inter alia, the "location of the instrument" and anecdotal "observations made during the changing of the standard". Location of the instrument at the time of the last solution change is essential information for the defence. If there has been a change of location between the las

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Sep 2, 2022
2 min

Reliability: Cal Checks in the Context of Earlier & Later Ambient Fails

Tip 47: A calibration check using a wet-bath simulator containing alcohol standard is not reliable if information is missing about air blanks associated with the cal checks. Equipment: Intoxilyzer 8000 Dry Gas Alcohol Standard 45 mg/100mls Vodka Purposes: To study air blanks (blank tests) and control tests in the context of an elevated zero on an IR approved instrument. Is the ambient fail system compromised? (appears as 000 even though adverse ambient conditions) Is the cont

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Aug 31, 2022
2 min

Reliability: Disabling Ambient Fail Exception, Making Alcohol Disappear

Tip 45: Study the breath room video and learn everything you can about the breath room and detachment. Watch for: Has the qualified technician deliberately moved the breath tube to a location where the ambient fail system is disabled? (the video below) Has the qualified technician deliberately or negligently disabled the ambient fail system? Has the qualified technician deliberately or negligently changed zero upwards, much as an individual using a bathroom scale can turn the

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Reliability: Air Blanks "System Blank Test"

Aug 28, 2022
5 min

Reliability: Air Blanks "System Blank Test"

Tip 43: A properly functioning approved instrument air blank system (including the instrument itself, the ambient environment around the instrument, and operator procedure) is a condition precedent to the reliability of any system calibration check (control test). This applies whether the system is using alcohol standard in a wet-bath simulator or using dry gas. Parliament has recognized in section 320.31(1)(a) that a proper air blank, also known as a "system blank test" is

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Aug 18, 2022
2 min

Ambient Interferents Compromise Reliability of Control Tests

Tip 48: The reliability of control tests using the alcohol standard in a wet-bath #duisimulator may be compromised by the presence in the breath room air of an interferent, if the approved instrument confuses the interferent as ethyl alcohol. In the same way that ambient ethyl alcohol can raise the zero baseline, so can an ambient interferent. Interferents may include paint, cleaning fluids, fingerprint cleanup fluids, and chemicals on the clothing or breath of the accused or

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Continuity: Outgoing = Incoming Seal Numbers

Jul 15, 2022
2 min

Continuity: Outgoing = Incoming Seal Numbers

Tip 39: The key to usefulness of alphanumeric seals on a #duisimulator is whether or not the incoming seal number on the subsequent solution change date equals the outgoing seal number on the prior solution change date. If the incoming seal number does not match the outgoing seal number, then an inference can be drawn that someone broke the seal and replaced the seal between those two dates. If someone broke the seal, then an inference can be drawn that they, or someone else,

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Are police officers tempted to record 34.00 without actually checking the simulator thermometer?

Jun 24, 2022
1 min

Are police officers tempted to record 34.00 without actually checking the simulator thermometer?

Tip 21: A CFS scientist has acknowledged police sometimes are tempted to record 34.0. Evidence of a CFS scientist, Dr. L, April 10, 2013, R v KG at Kitchener, transcript page 10: "As I indicated from my own personal experience, this Simulator and the earlier Simulators keep their temperatures very, very stably which is why we always train and insist that the breath technicians look at the temperature because after six to eight months of seeing the same numbers, it’s tempting

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Continuity of the Alcohol Standard

May 28, 2022
4 min

Continuity of the Alcohol Standard

Tip 34: The use of an alcohol standard during evidentiary breath testing in Canada was not mentioned in the Criminal Code as a condition precedent to former section 258(1)(c), but it seems that everyone in the judicial system and the scientific community in Canada assumed it was a condition precedent. In the Bill C-2 258(1)(c) era, we could rebut the presumptions of accuracy/identity/reliability with evidence tending to show. In the Bill C-46 section 320.31(1)(a) era, we need

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Location is Everything

May 6, 2022
2 min

Location is Everything

Tip 31: Location is everything when it comes to a #duisimulator in Ontario. The CFS Training Aid recommends that the alcohol standard be emptied prior to transport of the simulator and replaced upon arrival at a new location, such as a hospital. See Training Aid 2013 page 83 of 238, item 4. An astute defence lawyer will study the Alcohol Standard Log, Intoxilyzer Test Records and COBRA data to determine if the Intoxilyzer 8000C and simulator have recently been to a hospital o

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Know the Simulator Probes

Apr 30, 2022
3 min

Know the Simulator Probes

Tip 24: Knowledge of #duisimulator probes assists understanding of function & malfunction of thermistor, heater, and thermometer(s). Many of our trials involve events that happened in Canadian winter conditions. Running evidentiary breath testing of subjects from a breath truck can be challenging for a qualified technician. Defence lawyers need to pay attention to whether or not the wet-bath simulator used in winter in a breath truck was being used properly. Pay close attenti

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Chips & Cracks in the Simulator Jar

Apr 19, 2022
1 min

Chips & Cracks in the Simulator Jar

Tip 28: Make inquiries about chips or cracks in the simulator jar. Use a FOI application, Stinchcombe, O'Connor, or cross-examine to make inquiries about chips in the glass edge of the simulator jar. Henry's Law cannot apply to a simulator / alcohol standard system that is not sealed and at equilibrium. Over-tightening the wet-bath simulator jar or a worn o-ring between the jar and the housing can cause chips in the edge. A simulator jar screwed tightly to establish a seal wh

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