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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tuesday, Dec. 28, 2010
CONTACT: Terry Woster, Public Information Officer, 605.773.3178
CONTACT: Terry Woster, Public Information Officer, 605.773.3178
Drug Recognition Experts Target Impaired Drivers
PIERRE, S.D. – The State Highway Patrol is leading an effort in South Dakota to develop a cadre of Drug Recognition Experts, law enforcement officers trained to recognize and assess impairment in drivers under the influence of drugs other than alcohol.
Since 2007 when South Dakota hosted its first Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) school, the State Patrol has coordinated training for DREs. Those individuals are trained to recognize tell-tale signs of impairment in people under the influence of drugs other than alcohol. State, county and city officers have taken the training and become certified DREs, says Sgt. Ryan Mechaley, South Dakota Highway Patrol state coordinator for the program.
“The program started in the Los Angeles Police Department in the 1970s, when arresting officers began encountering more and more drivers who showed signs of impairment but who had low or zero alcohol concentrations,’’ Mechaley said. “Trained Drug Recognition Experts can identify impairment and assess the type of drug involved.’’
The ability to assess impairment from drugs other than alcohol is critical to successful prosecutions of impaired driving cases, Mechaley said.
“Without an officer trained to detect and identify drug impairment, we lacked the evidence to take some cases to court,’’ he said. “The DRE process is a simple, standardized method of recognizing drug influence and impairment.’’
The Los Angeles effort attracted the attention of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the International Association of Chiefs of Police, and pilot programs started in 1987. From those pilot projects, the DRE program has spread across the nation. South Dakota had its first certified DRE in 2004. Three years later, the State hosted its first school. Currently the state has 28 DREs.
The State Office of Highway Safety provides major funding for DRE training in South Dakota.
“Our office has committed more than $75,000 in funding for the program in the next year,’’ says Lee Axdahl, Director of the Office of Highway Safety. “We are expecting to train about 20 law enforcement officers from across the state. After certification, these individuals will provide DRE services in their agencies. We are committed to the program because impaired driving doesn’t just involve alcohol.’’
Recent national studies show an increase in the number of drivers with drugs in their system. A 2007 study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration randomly tested drivers. The study showed 2.2 percent of drivers had a blood alcohol content at or higher than the 0.08 percent for legally operating a motor vehicle. The same study showed 16 percent of randomly tested drivers had drugs in their system. A 2010 study concluded that as many as one-third of all drivers in fatal crashes had drugs in their systems.
A DRE conducts a detailed diagnostic examination of a person arrested or suspected of drug-impaired driving and other similar offenses. From the examination, the DRE forms an expert opinion on whether the person is impaired or able to operate a vehicle safely. The DRE can determine whether the impairment is due to a drug or combination of drugs or whether a medical condition, injury or illness might be causing the problem.
Training is a three-step process that involves at total of at least 72 hours of class work and a minimum of 12 drug evaluations under the supervision of a trained DRE instructor. Officers must recertify every two years.
“It’s a rigorous course of training, but I’ve found it very rewarding,’’ Mechaley, the first certified DRE in South Dakota, said. “It’s also another way the Highway Patrol can extend cooperation to other law enforcement agencies, and that’s satisfying, too.’’
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(Eds: Mechaley is pronounced muh-KAY’-lee)