Police offer parents access to alcholol-testing machine

OTTAWA HILLS, Ohio – Police are offering parents an alcohol-testing machine – delivered, day or night – to check if their teen-agers have been drinking.

"If a parent calls and says, `I think my kid has been drinking,' we'll send an officer over with it," police Chief Ron Jornd said.

The police department in this suburban Toledo village has ordered a $500 breath-alcohol testing device that weighs just 1 pound and has just two buttons to push.

Jornd said there will be no risk of charges being filed if the teen is drunk.

"If the parent finds that the juvenile has been drinking, that's a family matter. Our officer is waiting outside the house. We haven't seen the intoxicated kid," he said.

"We think it will be a preventative once word of its availability gets out," the chief said. "We're more interested in preventing a problem than in trying to solve it."

Village manager Marc Thompson said the idea came to him at a recent school parents' meeting.

"It began with a parent saying that if she suspected her daughter had been drinking, she would march her down to the police station," Thompson said.

"Our thought was that if we have a parent who is concerned in that regard, let's make it easier for him or her to be a good parent."

Jornd said officers also will use the device during traffic stops to screen for drunken driving. The department is paying for the machine and will order more if it is popular, he said.