Should police be able to breathalyse people on the street?

People going out for a drink soon could find themselves being asked to blow into a tube, while police read their alcohol levels. It is widely accepted for motorists, but do we want to be subject to breath tests on the streets?

Dutch Interior Minister Guusje ter Horst wants to introduce breathalyser tests for pedestrians. On a Dutch talk show the minister explained that the measure was to prevent aggression and violence in downtown areas in city centres.

“An awful lot of violence in areas where there are bars and discos is caused by excessive drinking. If you want to do something about it, you have to be able to address people who have drunk too much.”

Although drunkenness is banned in public places, police are not allowed to breathalyse pedestrians. At the moment police are allowed to assess whether someone might be drunk, for example by asking them to stand on one leg. The minister called this an “unreliable method”.

However, the European Convention for Human Rights states that breath tests without due reason are a violation of privacy.

At the moment only people driving motorised vehicles and cyclists can be tested for being over the legal limit. Ter Horst argues that people react differently to alcohol, so breathalysing pedestrians would make it possible to establish whether someone causing a nuisance is over the legal limit:

“Alcohol affects people differently, it is especially difficult to see when young people are drunk.” 
The minister dismissed the idea that people would be breathalysed as they left a drinking establishment to get into a taxi, although she did not fully rule out the possibility.

“The point is that the local authorities can test people in certain areas for drunkenness and the Minister of Justice has decided that in cases of violence and public disorder where alcohol has played a role, sentences will be stiffer.”

In August, the cabinet announced it wanted to get tougher on alcohol-related violence. The government applauds voluntary breath tests in school and bars to prevent drunkenness and disorderly behaviour. The Interior Minister and the Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin have written a letter to the lower house explaining their plans.

What do you think of Minister ter Horst’s proposal? Does the threat of being breathalysed infringe on your right to privacy? Add your comment below.