Pa. police to undergo training

The National Highway Safety Administration approved the program.
HARRISBURG -- Pennsylvania State Police next year will begin a program to train troopers and municipal police officers to recognize when an individual has been driving under the influence of drugs and to identify the type of drug causing the impairment.
"Alcohol is the intoxicant most often responsible for impaired driving, but it is not the only one that renders individuals incapable of safe driving," said Jeffrey B. Miller, state police commissioner. "The goal of this new program is to train officers to determine if a driver is under the influence of illegal drugs, prescription drugs or other substances. Ultimately, this will help law enforcement prosecute and convict more impaired motorists."
Miller said the program was developed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and approved by the International Association of Chiefs of Police.
Certification
Officers successfully completing the monthlong course will be certified by the chiefs of police association as drug recognition experts, or DREs.
Miller said the Department will start the program with a $10,000 federal grant and will train 10 troopers and two municipal police officers as part of the first class.
Trooper David Andrascik of the Bureau of Patrol's Driving Under the Influence/Field Operations Section will coordinate the state police program. Andrascik recently was certified as Pennsylvania's first DRE after completing a program in Maryland.
Parts of training
Andrascik said the state police course will include extensive classroom study and hands-on exercises. As part of the training, participants will be required to conduct evaluations of actual subjects impaired by drugs.
He said the program also trains officers to recognize whether an individual is suffering from a medical condition rather than drug impairment.
Andrascik said state and municipal police officers stopped more than 41,000 people for driving under the influence last year based on the officers' recognition of driver impairment. But he estimated that as many as 10 percent of those drivers were released after they tested below the state's .08 percent blood alcohol content ceiling.
He estimated that of the more than 11,700 people arrested by state police last year for DUI, only about 1 percent were charged with driving under the influence of drugs.