The bogus breath tests, dubbed “falsies” by some police, were done by either blowing into breathalysers themselves, or putting a finger over the hole where the disposable straw is usually attached, in order to register a .00 result. A target of 1 million tests a year was more than tripled in 2018-19, rising to 3.5 million tests, but police also set an internal target of 4.5 million. Road Policing Assistant Commissioner Stephen Leane on Wednesday said police command, including sergeants, were not aware of the bogus results. When asked whether any officers would be disciplined, Mr Leane said: "That's still to be seen." He acknowledged the targets were unrealistic and put frontline officers under enormous pressure.

"We will have to have some sort of targets, and anywhere in the world you work - whether it’s in the media, businesses, in sport, in football - we all have targets," Mr Leane said. "But we have to make sure we get the balance right between the outcomes that we want and the targets we make up." Loading However, Police Association assistant secretary Bruce McKenzie on Wednesday said the quota system needed to be thrown out. "There is no room for quotas in operational policing," Mr McKenzie told radio station 3AW.

"No form of policing ought to be the subject of quotas. "When a quota is set that is totally unrealistic, there’s a temptation of course for short cuts to be taken in order to please the bosses." In his report handed down on Tuesday, Mr Comrie said the major cause for the falsification of breath tests were the "meaningless and unachievable" targets set by the police force. He has made 23 recommendations to Victoria Police, including monthly auditing of the breath testing results and replacing the testing equipment with new devices. Mr Leane said the organisation has accepted all recommendations and would work with the state government and other agencies, including the Transport Accident Commission, to eradicate the practice of falsifying breath test results.

Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video “There are some researchers who still believe, on average, one PBT [preliminary breath tests] per driver per year is what you need to do to reduce road trauma,” Mr Leane said. Frontline officers had a target to limit the number of drink-drivers busted to no more than one in 200 breath tests, The Age has revealed. Mr Comrie’s report found unrealistic targets created a “perverse incentive” that meant it was more important to meet targets than to catch drink drivers. At least 10,000 frontline police officers have watched a video by Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton, reinforcing the message that police must act ethically and that the roadside tests reduce road trauma.