Neil Mitchell says there’s been a ‘huge breach of trust’ over fake breath tests

Neil Mitchell says there has been a huge breach of trust as Victoria Police admit to faking more than 250,000 roadside breathtests.

The 3AW Mornings host said he was angry by the so-called “ghosties” making a mockery of the the state’s road safety campaign.

“We have been dudded here,” he said.

“On the one hand we are lectured endlessly about the road toll and your sense of responsibility on the roads, on the other the police haven’t been taking it seriously at all.

“The system is broken.

“We have been tricked, it is a huge breach of trust. It is an insult to those who are actually care about road safety and campaign to have people do sensible things.”

Secretary of the police union Wayne Gatt said members were under increasing pressure, and described it as “statistical fudging” rather than misconduct.

“It is driven by overall targets to say we will have x amounts of breath tests per year,” he said.

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Acting police chief Wendy Steendam admitted to Neil Mitchell it was possible the number of faked breath tests could be much higher but she said the investigation was in its early stages.

“We don’t shy away from the fact that there are requirements for us to do 1.5 million breathtests per year, and up to 3.5 million for next year,” she said.

“We’ve let ourselves down, we’ve let the community down and from our perspective we need to talk to each of our members and explain so that they understand very clearly this is unacceptable behaviour and the consequences of what happens if they continue this behaviour.”

Click PLAY to hear the force respond