Police Minister Simon Corbell has announced a ramp up of officers trained to perform roadside drug testing.
Mr Corbell said that the new team would provide the community with multi-skilled police officers specifically trained to target and remove high risk takers from our roads.
“The new team combines the RAPID (Recognition and Analysis of Plates Identified) and the six-month-old Random Roadside Drug Testing (RRDT) team — increasing the number of officers able and trained to conduct random roadside drug testing from two to nine,” he said.
Since ACT Policing began operating random roadside drug testing in May 2011, more than 300 drug tests have been conducted with ten returning positive roadside tests. Of the ten, two have been charged and convicted.
“The initial months focused on establishing robust governance, training and developing operational requirements, including the purchase of drug kits and other equipment,” Mr Corbell said.
“The Road Safety Operations team is now in place to expand our road safety efforts. The public can expect to see the team out and about, setting up roadside operations targeting drink driving, drug driving and unregistered/unlicensed drivers — a multipronged approach to improving road safety.”
The mouth swabs are looking for weed, ice, and ecstasy.