Athaliah Reynolds, Staff Reporter

Six months after the Jamaica Constabulary Force's (JCF) traffic division welcomed the arrival of more than 20 new breathalyser machines, brought into the island to help curb road fatalities, the equipment is still not in the hands of trained law enforcers and out on the roadways.

Superintendent Fred Hibbert, head of the JCF's traffic department, said yesterday that the trained lawmen had still not been gazetted to use the machines.

Hibbert was speaking during a meeting of the National Road Safety Council (NRSC), held at the Courtleigh hotel in New Kingston.

He said some 200 policemen have already been trained to operate the machines but are awaiting legal authorisation to use them.

According to the Road Safety Unit of the transport ministry, there have been 154 road fatalities since the start of the year. In Clarendon, earlier this month, five people were killed in a road accident, followed by the deaths of three in another incident a day later.

Dr Lucien Jones, vice chairman of the NRSC, appeared surprised that, after so many months, the breathalysers were still not being utilised.

Why is it taking so long?

"We have been lobbying to get the breathalysers for about a year and a half. The police knew that this was happening, the Ministry of National Security knew this was coming, the Ministry of Health knew it was coming, so why is it taking so long to get the people gazetted?" Jones asked.

"This is scandalous you know, this is absolutely scandalous."

The breathalysers, valued at approximately US$230,000 (J$16.6 million), have already been distributed to some 15 points across the island, including Rockfort, Hunts Bay, Central Village and Yallahs.

Hibbert told the council meeting that, as far as he was aware, the documents authorising the use of the machines by the police must be signed by both the ministries of health and national security. This, however, had not yet been done.

"I was searching to find out where the documents were. At first I thought they were at the Ministry of Health but I found that the ministry had not received them."

Hibbert said he also went to the national security ministry, only to find that the documents had not been sent there either. He said after further enquiry the documents were discovered at the commissioner's office and have now been forwarded to the ministry.

Vivian Brown, senior director in the national security ministry, said the documents were now being gazetted.

He also gave a commitment to track them down and speed up the process.

athaliah.reynolds@gleanerjm.com