Opinion ID: 2201755
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Role of the State Toxicologist

Text: With respect to the person who may administer a preliminary breath test, TR § 16-205.2(a) speaks in terms of the officer who stops a driver. With respect to the Breathalyzer test, CJ § 10-304(b) requires that the test be administered by a qualified person. CJ § 10-304(a)(3) explains that a qualified person means a person who has received training in the use of the equipment in a training program approved by the toxicologist under the Postmortem Examiners Commission and who is either a police officer, a police employee, or an employee of the office of the Chief Medical Examiner.[ [2] ] The equipment used to administer both the preliminary breath test and the Breathalyzer test must be approved by the State toxicologist. See TR § 16-205.2(a) as to the preliminary breath test and CJ § 10-304(b) as to the Breathalyzer test. The toxicologist, pursuant to the responsibility directed to him under CJ § 10-304, has issued regulations. The regulations address the training and certification of personnel performing tests of breath and blood for the purpose of determining the alcohol content in the body of drivers suspected of driving while under the influence of beverages containing alcohol and pertain to the approval and certification of equipment used in conducting such tests. See Regulations of the Toxicologist, Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, Post Mortem Examiners Commission, State of Maryland, Regarding [Tests of] Breath and Blood for Alcohol, effective 1 April 1983. The regulations are included as Appendix O to the Maryland DWI Manual, prepared by the Chemical Test for Alcohol Unit, Crime Laboratory Division of the Maryland State Police (1985). The 1983 regulations were revised effective 1 January 1990, superseding any previous regulations. The Maryland State Law Library has a copy of the 1983 and the 1990 regulations, but they are not otherwise published. The equipment approved to administer the preliminary breath test is the Alco-Sensor as described in the 1983 regulations, § III A 3 at 0-15. See the 1990 regulations, § V A 3 at 29. The equipment approved to administer the test called for in TR § 16-205.1(a) is the Breathalyzer as described in the 1983 regulations, § II A 1 at 0-4. See the 1990 regulations, § IV A at 19. The regulations of the toxicologist permit only police officers who have received training in the use of preliminary breath test devices to conduct preliminary breath tests. Regulations (1983) § III B at 0-16; Regulations (1990) § V B at 30. The Breathalyzer operator must be a full time police officer or a full time laboratory technician of a participating agency, who shall have successfully completed the Basic Breathalyzer Operator Course, and retake the course every 15 months. Regulations (1983) § II B 1; Regulations (1990) § IV E 1.