Alcohol Breathalyzers Presented to Tonga Police
8 December 2022. Police Commissioner, Shane McLennan on behalf of Tonga Police was presented on Friday, 2 December 2022, with alcohol breathalyzers by Ms. Shelly Wallace from the World Health Organisation (WHO) at the Tonga Police Headquarters, Longolongo.
These breathalyzer devices are to support frontline police officers in enforcing relevant laws in place for alcohol misuse, which include targeting to detect and remove drink drivers as to maintain safety on our roads.
The donation was made possible through collaboration of Tonga Police with the Ministry of Health and the WHO. In addition to acquiring the breathalyzers, WHO also sponsored a representative, Mr. Daniel Lewis, from the manufacturing company, Remote Control Global (Australia), who conducted a week-long training on the use and maintenance of these devices, which started on Monday, 28 November 2022.
Police Commissioner McLennan acknowledged the collective efforts between these organisations and applauded the participants from his Police team for participating in the necessary training, which included police officers from the outer islands of Vava’u, Ha’apai and ‘Eua.
In her remarks, Ms. Shelly Wallace referred to several road deaths in Tonga that alcohol misuse had contributed to and stressed the importance of having these breathalyzers to support Tonga Police’s efforts to address alcohol harm and related issues.
Dr. Pateli Patelisio from the Ministry of Health (MoH) highlighted the Alcohol Control Support Program that Tonga Police, WHO, and MoH jointly spearheaded over the past two years.
“MoH and WHO strive together to minimize alcohol consumption through proactive educational and awareness campaign measures, underpinned by the effective enforcement of the related laws by Tonga Police.
The object is to minimize the social, economic, mental, and physical impacts of alcohol harm and abuse,” Dr. Patelisio explained.
In showing gratitude for this valued partnership and assistance, Commissioner McLennan presented a token of appreciation from Tonga Police to Mr. Daniel Lewis from Remote Control Global (Australia) for training our frontline police officers on the new devices and to Ms. Shelly Wallace from WHO for the generous funding of this project. EN
