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LEGAL TIPS

Field Sobriety Test :
An increasingly used field sobriety test involves having the suspect breathe into a small, handheld breath testing device. Called variously a PAS (preliminary alcohol screening) or PBT (preliminary breath test), the units are small, inexpensive versions of their larger, more sophisticated instruments at the police stations, the EBTs (evidentiary breath test). Whereas the EBTs usually employ infrared spectroscopy, the PAS units use a relatively simple electrochemical (fuel cell) technology. Their purpose, along with other FSTs, is to assist the officer in determining probable cause for arrest. Although because of their relative inaccuracy they were never intended to be used in court for proving actual blood-alcohol concentration, some courts have begun to admit them as evidence of BAC.