#tip

Appendix E: Location & Anecdotal Notes in Log

Sep 16
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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Reliability: Cal Checks in the Context of Earlier & Later Ambient Fails

Stephen Biss

Sep 2
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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Reliability: Disabling Ambient Fail Exception, Making Alcohol Disappear

Stephen Biss

Aug 31
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"

Stephen Biss

Aug 28
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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Ambient Interferents Compromise Reliability of Control Tests

Stephen Biss

Aug 18
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

Stephen Biss

Jul 15
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?

Stephen Biss

Jun 24
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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Stephen Biss

May 28
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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Stephen Biss

May 6
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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Stephen Biss

Apr 30
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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Stephen Biss

Apr 19
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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Stephen Biss

Apr 9
3 min

Reliability - Calibration is a Curve

Tip 50: When an "approved instrument" is calibrated at the factory, the manufacturer doesn't simply adjust the electronics in the instrument to one concentration of ethyl alcohol. The electronics in a new instrument must be tweaked (using a screwdriver pre-2000 and software post-2000) so that electrical signals coming from the detector and other circuitry are accurately and precisely read by the instrument's software to output values corresponding to ethyl alcohol values of m

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