On June 4th, 2008, Pinal County Sheriff’s Office launched an internal audit after the agency was contacted by the Pinal County Attorney’s Office regarding a records issue involving the Intoxilyzer 8000.
The specific period of records in question was determined to be from April 2007 to June 2008 at the PCSO San Tan substation and the deputy assigned as Quality Assurance Specialist to maintain the instrument during that time.
Immediately after the County Attorney’s Office brought the issue to the attention of PCSO, an investigation was initiated. After initial investigation, it has been found that there are Intoxilyzer records missing for periods dating back to April 2007 in both the San Tan and the Gold Canyon areas.
The Intoxilyzer 8000 is a breathalyzer instrument housed in each of the four PCSO regions. The instrument is used to detect levels of intoxication in suspect driving under the influence cases. The calibration of the instrument must be checked every 30 days and a Standardized Quality Assurance Procedure must be completed every 90 days to ensure it is functioning properly. If this is not completed on this schedule and records of compliance cannot be produced to show the County Attorney’s Office, DUI cases have the possibility of being dismissed because the breath tests are inadmissible. Thus far, about six cases are facing dismissal due to the lack of compliance with this procedure.
Since PCSO launched the investigation, the process for keeping records on the Intoxilyzer instruments has been updated and the investigation has been extended to all four regions to make sure the issue is not in other regions as well. PCSO is taking every possible step to find out what happened and make sure it will not happen in the future.
Thus far, no disciplinary action has been taken. This is an ongoing audit that reflects the importance and necessity of a partnership between PCSO and the Pinal County Attorney’s Office. Once the audit is complete and PCSO knows the full extent of what occurred, why and the cases affected, an investigation will be launched to determine disciplinary action.