Best Of: What It's Like To Work An RBT As A Cop

Lawrence, tell me what's you know?

Every week we like to have a different division at the Victorian Police in to have a chat. This week we are catching up with the team from RBT.

Like four schooners of Great Northern Okay, got a heavy beer or and.

I'll be so you can breath test me. I'm very confident, very good.

Well, that's exactly what we were doing today.

Mine's got a breath and we've tested.

Ourselves that particular drink.

Yeah, particularly drink. He's got a breath test. That voice right there, was seeing you, Constable Stevie Jorgensen who joined us now, good morning morning.

It's nice to be here.

So you're on the show too. I am their real arfe. Sometimes I think are they proper police men and women?

We are real?

No, it's only strippers that are in.

I'd be happy if one of them pulled me.

Stevie, welcome to the show. How how long you've been part of the cops.

I have been a for ten years and doing this particular role for six. Do you get to pick?

Can you say I love doing the RBT and the Booze bus I want to do that or do you just get moved around to different departments.

So no, I've been with what's called ARPIDAS. We call it row Policing drug an alcohol section, and I've been there on my own accord for six years. I could leave if I wanted to, but I love it there.

I like it.

In terms of filming, we get asked if we want to do it or not. So yeah, there's any select few of us that actually are prepared to put our faces on TV. So I'm one of them.

Now.

Question, I'm sure I'm not alone in this.

But when I get go through a breath o booze bus, I panic every time, even when I haven't had a drink, and I think, oh my gosh, they're going to think I'm drunk or I'm doing something wrong because I'm so nervous and.

I ran over the cone. No, is that normal?

Yeah, you are not alone. That is very very common, like very common.

Before they're like, oh, you know you're going to show drivers sortevery and I'm shaking and I'm like, I look eating myself.

Well, look on our buses. A normal shift, we would be testing up to one thousand, fteen people. So in amongst that, I would say at least fifty percent of people Okay, would be scared coming past or coming into a booze bus.

I think I'd be more confident if fund had a few drinks to marriage.

Not joking the audio we heard there, Gary, he ended up blowing under on the show. When it comes to random breath testing, do you because we're now rolling out random drug testing as well?

Correct?

Are you doing both at every site? No drug testing takes longer, doesn't it.

We yes, So we have booze busses and we have drug buses. When we do a booze bus, we do have the facilities to do a drug test if we feel the need.

So it's if you're if you've got saying, let's do this.

Yeah, And if we ever have somebody on our bus for a breath test, we'll also do a drug test while.

We're there if they've been taken out of the car and endo the bus.

So you get out. If they're taking me out of the car, you're cooked.

You are getting oapy test, and if you're doing nothing wrong, you're not.

Course, that's right, of course, yes.

And then we have the drug busses where every single driver that comes into our site will get a breath test and a drug test.

Right, and then how do we drug test everyone?

Is a cost?

We just look, yeah, and we don't have I mean it's high volume testing. When we do booze buses. As I said before, we're going to be testing anywhere up to fourteen hundred drivers a drug test. When we have a drug bus, we're with each driver for about five minutes, so we would never get the amount of people tested if we were doing every single person. And then obviously it's a huge cost to be able to drug test every single Let's.

Be honest, people would be cracking it like five minutes.

Yeah, yeah, sixty seconds and they don't like us doing that.

Honest question. Are our roads safe?

Is it?

Are we policing enough that we're making our roads? How many people are drink driving and drug driving?

I wish I could say that our roads are super safe, but coming from the job that I do, yeah, we see so many people that are under the influence of alcohol and drugs. Just last week I did a site where we got someone at around eleven o'clock in the morning and they were point to nine. So that's the whole time, the legal limit at eleven o'clock in the morning on a school day.

Had they been out all night and all day or.

He was actually in complete denial about it. But yeah, too much into it. But there were alcohol in the car, there was, and this person, you know, had a pretty strong history of drink driving.

You know what I find sad because I see the boost bus a lot on South right down near our Sandy, and the cops are set up there and they're getting them after school pickup and school drop off, and that's that's the time of targeting. Does it does it shock you? How many? Does it make you angry?

That site? I would say that would probably be the where we get the most hate and complaints about setting up in that area. And we're affecting drivers. You know, we've added in traffic, we're affecting traffic with minutes to their driver.

Sorry, I've been on that road and you guys fly through it pretty quick. I've done the boostbus there several times that you don't hold them up, definite they don't.

But I think people just like to complain about it. But we're always getting.

And do you get many doing the school run? It's good?

Absolutely.

Yeah.

I've personally, I have trut a breaktest on quite a lot of people during school time, and yeah it's I mean it's but it's standard procedure, like you go, you have a glass of wine. Yeah, it makes me really angry. Look, I'm personally really passionate about road policing and affected drivers off the road.

So I get, yeah, well, thank you for that, because you're keeping our roads safe. It is actually scary hearing that kind of stuff. But a lot of people now are taking their responsibility in their own hands. You try to write, I don't really even like having one glass of wine and driving because I get scared that I'm over be I just.

The confusion is because remember if few years ago, and I remember when we were growing up, there was that big campaign where it was like one hour after that and everyone started sticking to that rule. But that's like, you know, one standard beer is more than a standard drink, and also to food size of the person, size of how you.

Compared to the size of poor my fiance, Like we couldn't drink the same amount.

And I've noticed we're not doing those campaigns anymore.

Yeah, I think that's it's way too confusing for people, and what works for one person is not going to work for the next. As you said size, So there's no guide food, water, There's so many different things that come into play as to how your body will metabolize alcohol.

So it's too risky do the self breathalyzers work because I know people that like will have two glasses of wine and then they'll always check before they drive. But if if you blewe point oh four on that, and then you went to a booze bus and you blue point.

No defense the look. I think the problem with the personally owned breath breathalyzers is that some are really cheap and then some are really expensive. But the difference with those ones and ours is that ours are regularly serviced and calibrated. You're going to give you that accurate results. And we have a two step process. So we've obviously got the initial test that you do at the booze bus or if you're be decepted, and then we have an evidentiary breath test as well, like in the bus.

I actually remember the machines eas to have on the side of the wall in pubs and you get a straw blowing it right, and like I would love for them to roll out actual professional ones and service them and pull them in everything every pub across Victoria.

You'd be grateful for it one hundred.

Percent because even if I had two great northerns right like low strength beer, I would definitely still check, even though I know I'm pretty safe, definitely still check. And if I was over, I wouldn't drive. Yeah, Like, I know it's a cost, but think about the lives of the top.

Problem with that is that with alcohol consumption, you could still it has like a peak before it starts. So you could do that test at the pub and it might be then you get held up because you see a mate that you weren't drinking with and you're like, oh, hanging back for another fifteen minutes. Then you go to drive and your alcohol in that space of time has

You've got to be under point five four night.

Point four night for thanks Stevie, I thought I was.

It is because you know what and what I would say the people who would do that test at the pub they're trying to do the right thing, you know, and the people who get point oh five, Sure it's wrong, but you feel for them because you're like, oh, but you know it's it's the people who are way over that aren't sitting at the pub just trying to do the right thing.

Hey, we've got to go to a break. Are you happy to stay with us?

Absolutely?

When we come back, I want to ask a question about, like, you know, let's let's not put our head in the sand. People are smoking, people are doing part other drugs around the place. I want to talk about how long that could potentially stay in your system. And also we're going to test out the old breath Now machine this morning because we got one of our producers, Jis, to have

Next day is a worrying.

You know what, Let's break out that tongue scraper.

Four straws so we can we don't just have to test him, we can test We are out of time.

We are proving the pope post and you Constable Stevie Jorgensen has joining us this morning. She is a booze bus operetta.

And you're on the show yet do you ever get recognized a little bit?

Not so much like out in public, but the family. Yeah, like when I'm on the show, like my phone just goes nuts.

Oh my god.

And people from school that I haven't spoken to it about twenty years.

Why does Darryl, when he gets done on the show for blowing over and with meth in his system, allows himself to be on TV.

This is a good question. So you'll get a mix of people.

Right.

So some people will well, either they're drunk or they're on drugs relief, the right decision. Two. They genuinely want to get on television and it doesn't matter what it's for. They're happy to just get their face on their Why.

They don't get their someone told me they get their fines in court cases paid.

No, no, nothing, no benefits whatsoever. For an example, I had a young pea player who only had his license for a few months. This one hasn't been shown yet, so i't go with too much into detail. But he thought it was going to help him with the ladies. He was like, cool, this is going to get me out share and the girls are going to see me and it's.

Gonna And was he drink driving?

He was drink driving, Yeah, lost his license.

Oh yeah.

It's really going to work for the ladies when you've got to put them on the greyhound bus for a day and then you just get the genuine people that can see how their story might help somebody else, somebody else, which they're the good ones because we know, you know, you're showing people that they are they're not one hundred percent safety drink.

You guys are pretty ice on it, like you're Sometimes.

I get frustrated, but rightfully so.

You're pretty nice. Sometimes I'm like, oh, they're being so nice. This person he's just gone Yeah.

There's a bit of a fine line between being too stern and them not wanting to cooperate and being nice enough that they do want to cooperate with this and come on the show.

We're going to say all the coppers we've met with this segment have been bloody lovely.

We love having the VIC police in. We love it.

Now. You guys don't have your head in the sands. You know, people out there are smoking, doing drugs. You can do medicinal marijuana. These days, it's never publicized how long drugs can potentially stay in your system. And the reason I ask because I'm sure there'd be people going, well, look, you know what I hit bloody. You know I had a smoke last night. If I know it stays in my system for twenty four hours, I won't drive today. Is there just no definitive answer?

There isn't. Every single person will metabolize drugs differently, and same with alcohol.

Right.

We can't say that one person and it's going to smoke weed and then within an hour it's gone, and then somebody else it's you know, a week later, they've still got it there.

So if people say, could drop a pill in a club on a Saturday night, I could say for someone it could be out their system on Sunday. For other people could still be their Tuesday.

Even if it's not affecting you anymore, it can still be in your system.

That's right, And that's where I think people get confused with the whole offense of drink and drug driving. In terms of drug driving, you can be pulled over a few days after having meth or having a tablet on the weekend and it's still shop. You're not really feeling the effects, but it's still in your oral fluid, so you still lose your license to Tuesday.

Was bad enough, and then hey, we've got our producer Jeez in the studio morning.

Jeez, I'm so sweaty, I'm so nervous.

Now.

He was given.

To have a lovely dinner last yek.

Yeah, he was given the task to have a couple of wines with dinner, just like a lot of people would. We got him maneuver in this morning. But we're very interested to see if it's still any system. Guys, I've got some sound effects. I thought we could do a dramatized right now quickly.

What time did you have your last drink?

At nine pm?

So we're eleven hours?

Drink should be okay? Last that should we.

Do like what we do on the show, Like when we watch it. Do you reckon? He'll be what do you reckon? He's going to blow?

I like the voiceover, I reckon he's going to this young Irish lad. I thought he could have a few venos last night and put the leg over the missus, isn't.

He Let's see what constable has to say about what did you drink?

I drank three to four glasses of peano. No wire shadowed, zan state beautiful.

Okay, Oh hang on, guys, here we go. Oh all right, window coming down.

Good afternoon, Constable, Good morning, driver in the morning. All right, so you've had a couple of drinks last night, you.

Told me, Yeah, just with dinner. I'm definitely fine this morning. I mean I've been in work and I think I'm doing my best work this morning.

Actually it's questionable, very confident.

All right, let's do this test one long breathing to the straw until I'll tell you to stop.

It is a long bread so long.

Some people just can never get on screaming at the TV.

Clearcy a reckon, he's under he's clear.

What do you think I reckon? There's going to be alcohol in my system, but I don't think I'm going to be over the limit.

Oh hang on, Sorry, Sorry, we go to a break.

So annoying.

I come back to the end of the show.

All right, No, we are all clear.

Let's go.

I would have loved to have known that, because this is where people getting big trouble get like, we get up at what four point thirty in the morning and drive to work and you had six hours sleep and you think you're fine.

That's that he'd come undone. Then I reckon. So just so everyone knows, we put him in an ober this morning, just in case.

Yes, do you have a heavy dinner and I had a yes, standard dinner, I'd say not loads.

Not he's still shredding.

No, I'm not really shredding. But that's actually a question that I wanted to ask. Is soakage a thing like if you do have a lot of foods, does that make so caidge?

It's certainly not a defense in the court of Laura vitalize again.

Look, I think, yeah, there's lots of things that come into play when it comes to alcohol and you know, sleep, food, yeah, water consumption and just time. Time is the one thing you need to allow enough time, and that's where people fall short.

Next morning, Jazz, don't move, Stevie, break out the tongue.

Scrapers, don't do that. And Jazz is very well behaved for it is.

Very well behaved. Senior Constable Stevie Jorgenson from the Booze Bus Division of the Pipelay, thank you so much for coming in this morning, and thank you for the work you guys do. It's a dangerous jo there on the street.

Thanks for keeping our roads safe, our best, Thanks for having Me's.

Gonna be a good Jason Lauren, Jason Lauren wake Up feeling Good on Nomber one hundred.

Jason Lauren, Bollygod on socials,