Pubdate: Sun, 09 Sep 2007
Source: St. Petersburg Times (FL)
Copyright: 2007 St. Petersburg Times
Contact: http://www.sptimes.com/letters/
Website: http://www.sptimes.com/home.shtml
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/419
Authors: Anne Lindberg and Willie J. Allen Jr, Times Staff Writers

STONED? DRUG COPS CAN TELL

Trained Officers Evaluate By Behavior And Testing.

Officer Eric Schroeder talked calmly to the woman who  was strapped 
to the emergency room bed. At times, she  would mumble incoherently. 
Then she'd scream or weep.  At one point, she was able to pull one arm free.

The woman had been in a traffic accident. Officers at  the scene said 
she rear-ended another car. They had  sent her to Northside Hospital 
to check for injuries.

Those officers also called in Schroeder, one of the  Pinellas Park 
Police Department's six certified drug  recognition experts. His job: 
to determine whether the  woman was driving under the influence of 
either drugs  or alcohol.

As a certified drug recognition expert, Schroeder is  one of an elite 
crew. The 4,000 to 6,000 DREs in the  United States have generally 
flown under the public's  radar screen. That changed a couple of 
weeks ago when  Schroeder arrested Buccaneers wide receiver 
David  Boston and charged him with DUI.

Boston's arrest was based solely on Schroeder's say-so.  Boston blew 
0.00 on the Breathalyzer and refused to  participate in the 12-step 
process DREs use to  determine which of seven classes of drugs a 
person  might have taken.

That left Schroeder with his observations of Boston's  behavior and 
physical condition. Schroeder concluded  Boston had taken a drug of 
some sort. He arrested him  and took urine for testing.

Police said last Thursday that the results of the  urinalysis backed 
up Schroeder's conclusions. The DUI  charge against Boston would 
stand. But by early Friday,  police still had not revealed what drug 
Boston  allegedly took.

The DRE program was developed in the 1970s by traffic  officers in 
the Los Angeles Police Department. The LAPD  Web site describes the 
DRE program: "This procedure  trains selected officers to utilize a 
standardized  12-step evaluation procedure, that enables the officer 
to determine whether an individual is under the  influence of drugs, 
and then to determine the type of  drug causing the observable 
impairment. Importantly,  the DRE procedure enables the DRE to rule 
in (or out)  many medical conditions, such as illness or 
injury,  that may be contributing to the impairment."

The LAPD says that DRE accuracy has been validated in  two separate 
controlled studies. One was done by Johns  Hopkins University and the 
other by the National  Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The program has since expanded to 32 states, the  District of 
Columbia and several foreign countries  including Canada, Australia, 
Norway, Germany and  Sweden.

It's unclear when Florida joined the DRE program, but  there are now 
about 140 in the state and 40 in Pinellas  and Hillsborough counties. 
Pinellas Park sent its first  DRE officers for training in 2001.

Training is rigorous, Schroeder said. Officers must  first become 
certified in traditional field sobriety  tests, then attend a 
two-week school. During that time,  officers must pass written tests 
and, after training,  accurately evaluate 12 offenders before 
receiving certification.

The training teaches them to evaluate a person's  condition to decide 
which of seven categories of drugs,  such as inhalants, the suspect 
might have taken. The  DRE does not make a conclusion as to the 
specific drug  that might be involved. "We don't say, 'This person is 
on Xanax,'" he said.

Schroeder, 34, has worked for the Pinellas Park Police  Department 
for a little more than five years. He began  the application process 
in January and received his DRE  certification at the end of June.

"It's something I've wanted to do with my career,"  Schroeder said 
Friday. "It's my goal to take as many  impaired drivers off the roads 
to keep the public  safe."

The process, he said, begins with the observations of  the officer 
who makes the stop. Then, a traditional  field sobriety test is run.

If there's cause, the suspect will be taken to Central  Breath Test 
at the Pinellas County Jail.

After that, the DRE has a 12-step process to determine  if the person 
might be on drugs. If the DRE thinks the  suspect is on drugs, he 
asks for a urine test.

The urinalysis determines whether the drug recognition  expert's 
assessment was correct.

Sometimes other officers call on Schroeder for his  expertise. That's 
what happened Thursday when he went  to Northside Hospital.

Schroeder spent about 45 minutes trying to calm the  woman. When the 
hospital released her, Schroeder took  her outside to perform field 
sobriety tests. She failed  them all.

She was handcuffed but tried to fight when officers put  her in the 
patrol car to be taken to Central Breath  Test at the Pinellas County Jail.

While there, she began screaming and acting up. At one  point, she 
was handcuffed to a bench. Later, several  deputies had to help subdue her.

In the end, she refused all testing. So Schroeder  arrested her and 
charged her with misdemeanor DUI. The  woman is not being identified 
to protect her privacy  related to possible medical issues.

The process took more than two hours, after which  Schroeder went out 
to look for more impaired drivers.

"It's my goal to take as many impaired drivers off the  roads to keep 
the public safe." Eric Schroeder,  Pinellas Park Police Department 
drug recognition  expert.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom