In an email to the editorial office, a reader wrote:
Could you raise the issue of the “sober mornings” organized during the pandemic? Ask the police authorities who organized them whether this is legal and safe; so much is being said about maintaining distance and not gathering in groups. On Monday, January 4, while traveling to Żagań, I came across such an operation in Ławszowa. While waiting to take the breathalyzer test and standing in line, I observed a police officer in gloves take a mouthpiece out of his pocket and give it to a driver. The driver unwraps it and puts it into the device, after which the police officer, leaning over the driver, who is not wearing a mask, brings the device to his mouth and tells him to blow as hard as he can. During the breath test, the driver blows air containing bacteria into the device, onto the device and the police officer’s gloves, and the device is held near the driver’s mouth and nose. This is the simplest way to infect both other drivers and the police officers conducting the inspection.
He added: – Are such operations safe? What would happen if the first person tested were infected? I travel throughout Poland as a sales representative, and I have not encountered such practices anywhere since the pandemic began.
Asp. szt. Anna Kublik-Rościszewska, press officer of the Komenda Powiatowa Policji w Bolesławcu:
Intoxicated drivers are responsible for many road accidents with tragic consequences, which is why sobriety checks are a very important element of road traffic prevention. Removing intoxicated drivers from the roads is extremely important for road safety.
In their daily service, police officers are equipped with personal disinfectants and disinfectants for devices used during duty. Disposable sterile mouthpieces are used during sobriety tests, and contact between the police officer and the driver is very brief.
She adds:
Officers conduct operations wearing masks and gloves, which are disinfected repeatedly—in accordance with sanitary recommendations.