Pubdate: Sun, 11 Jan 2009 Source: Times Leader (Wilkes-Barre, PA) Copyright: 2009 The Times Leader Contact: http://www.timesleader.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/933 Author: Jen Marckini Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?246 (Policing - United States - News) SPOTTING DRUGGED DRIVERS GROWS VITAL On-the-road impairment is rising, and Pennsylvania offers a program for police. As deadly crashes involving drivers under the influence of illegal drugs become more common, law enforcement officials say there is a growing need for specialized drug recognition training, particularly among municipal police officers. In Luzerne County, four fatal crashes involved drugged drivers in 2007 - - compared to one in the previous year - according to data from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. The statistics also show 49 crashes countywide last year involved drug-impaired drivers on roadways. Over five years, 246 crashes, 13 of them fatal, involved illegal drugs or medication. Alcohol also was identified in 106 of those crashes. A training program developed last year by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and International Association of Chiefs of Police could help reduce the drug-influenced crashes, says a drug recognition expert in Harrisburg. George C. Geisler Jr., a law enforcement services director for Pennsylvania DUI Association, said the 16-hour course for Advanced Roadside Impaired Driving Enforcement (ARIDE) was designed to help officers determine if impairment is a result of illegal or prescription drugs, alcohol or a combination. The program, says Geisler, serves as a bridge between Standard Field Sobriety Testing and the drug recognition expert program. Geisler, now retired, was the second municipal police officer in the state to be certified as a DRE (drug recognition expert). More than 200 municipal officers statewide have been ARIDE-trained, but none are in Luzerne County. Training officers taking time Getting officers ARIDE-trained is complicated because field sobriety testing certification is a prerequisite, Geisler said. "Many officers still don't have that certification as it is not yet part of the municipal police training regimen; however, it is part of the Pennsylvania State Police cadet training," he said. Rudy M. Grubesky, director of training for Municipal Police Officers' Education & Training Commission, said sobriety testing certification isn't mandatory for municipal officers because entry-level training must be standardized - meeting the needs of even the smallest departments. Making training elective may not boost participation, either, because it's hard for local departments to do without officers who are in training. The field sobriety program takes 30 hours. Despite the obstacles, ARIDE is catching on throughout the state, Grubesky said. "The first three ARIDE courses in Pennsylvania were taught by out-of-state instructors because our state is still gearing up to train instructors to deliver the program throughout the Commonwealth," he said. Pete Quinn, director of Luzerne County's DUI Task Force, a PennDOT-funded project, said he has spoken to Geisler about holding a two-day class this year in the Wyoming Valley. But departments would have a hard time freeing up municipal police officers, according to Quinn, adding that many departments do not have the financial means to pay for training. "We would love to see each and every officer (at least) SFST (standardized field sobriety test) trained," he said. Kingston Township Police Chief Jim Balavage said he wasn't familiar with the ARIDE program. The department has a handful of officers who are SFST certified and he would welcome more. "That is a problem we all have as police administrators," Balavage said. "We would love to be able to have a unit for every type of crime that is within our community. We don't have enough guys to do what we want to do. It's a matter of manpower, money and time." Grubesky's organization has a training grant program that can help with the cost. Municipal police departments with a specific training need can submit a grant application for a course, he said. While there are no ARIDE-trained municipal officers in the county, there are five certified DREs in the Northeastern Pennsylvania region, Geisler said, two of them stationed at state police barracks in Hazleton and Shickshinny. Geisler believes the ARIDE class has improved officers' awareness of and ability to recognize drug impairment. The number of drugged-driving arrests statewide has increased by almost 12 percent since the ARIDE program began in February 2007. Last year, there were 8,643 arrests. Statistics on drugged-driving arrests were not available for Luzerne County. Law enforcement officers agree that specialized training helps get drugged drivers off roadways, according to state police Cpl. David Andrascik, a DUI and DRE coordinator in Harrisburg. "The training does provide officers with additional knowledge of signs and symptoms of drug impairment that they can improve their ability to investigate impaired driving cases more thoroughly," Andrascik said. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin