Middle Police Expert at Detecting Impaired Driving

COURT HOUSE – Winter holidays are often the best time of the year. Days filled with presents and parties. For some families, those wonderful times are shattered when they receive a call that their loved one has been killed in an accident that involved a driver who was driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
Middle Township police are stepping up their efforts to take impaired drivers off the roads this holiday season as part of a Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over initiative. The township’s police department received a $4,400 grant from NJ Division of Traffic Safety to help offset costs associated with taking impaired drivers off the road, said Capt. John Edwards.
Middle Township is very serious about its commitment to maintaining safe roads, Edwards told the Herald. To help identify impaired drivers, township police have designated three officers as Drug Recognition Experts (DREs).
“We have three,” said Edwards. “They can testify in court as to impairment due to drugs.”
Edwards said the trend in the past few years has been prescription drugs, either legal or illegal. “The amount of arrests while driving intoxicated has increased.”
According to the captain, driving under the influence of drugs can occur whether the drug has been prescribed by a physician or not. “A lot of people are prescribed (drugs) and that’s fine. It’s just when they take it and they get behind the wheel.”
In addition to prescribed drugs, the incidence of drivers under the influence of non-prescribed drugs has also risen. Prescription drugs may also be obtained from relatives, friends and purchased on the street.
“It’s expensive,” said the captain, noting the street value of an oxycodone can cost $10 per milligram, making one pill worth $30 to $60, with the high lasting approximately four hours.
“There are cases where they’re not prescribed, they’re just abused,” Edwards told the Herald. “When you have this, you also have the synergistic relationship between alcohol and drugs, or other drugs,” he said. “It’s not just someone taking a pain pill.”
The township, with its three DREs, has more experts than any other municipality in the county.
The DRE program was begun by State Police several years ago to increase arrests for drugs because drug impaired drivers were being let go and not charged.
“Ten or 15 years ago when you didn’t have the smell of alcohol and someone was just acting funny, they were either taken home or let go,” said Edwards. “We had impaired drivers were getting away. The potential for having accidents was there.”
The days of letting an alleged impaired driver go are long gone. All officers on patrol are now trained to observe and test while out in the field. Drivers who appear to be under the influence are administered a field sobriety test and brought back to the station if the officer feels the driver is impaired.
Once at the police station, an impaired driver will be observed as well as tested for alcohol impairment.
“If is someone is stopped and they are impaired and fail the physical impairment test, the officer would make the arrest,” explained Edwards. “They will be brought to the station and placed on the Alkotest machine.”
The captain added if the suspect is acting impaired and the Alkotest is negative, the officer would contact a DRE to examine the suspect.
DRE officers are required to follow a 12-step testing matrix to establish impairment, said Ptlm. David Hagan, one of Middle’s DRE officers. The matrix is very specific, and since it may be used in court, must be exactly followed, said Hagan, who has been a DRE for the past five years.
“We have to follow the matrix straight down from top to bottom,” said Hagan.
“They look for certain things, like blood pressure and temperature,” explained Edwards. DRE officers can also conduct drug urinalysis testing on a suspect to look for prescription drugs or metabolites. The captain explained metabolites are the residue of drugs in the system.
Training for DRE certification is a hard process, said Edwards. Hagan explained certification involves two weeks of classroom training and multiple weeks of field training with State Police. Once certified, DRE officers participate in on-going training. “It’s very intensive,” said Edwards.
“I enjoy my work,” said Hagan when asked about his role as a DRE. “It’s hands-on. You’re trying to get people off the street who is impaired.”
With three DREs in the township, local police have seen an increase in the number of driving under the influence arrests and prosecutions.
Edwards said a byproduct of the DRE program is a raised awareness of what to look for when dealing with an impaired driver for patrol officers.
With only three DRE officers, township police are part of the Cape Atlantic group for DRE officers. Hagan explained if a local DRE officer is not available, local municipalities throughout Cape May and Atlantic counties can contact other police departments for a DRE officer to assist with an arrest.
“Time is valuable when it comes to DRE testing,” said Hagan. He noted it was important for testing before the effect of the drug has worn off.
According to Hagan, drivers who take medication need to be cautious. “Read the label,” he said. “If it says do not drive, then don’t drive.” He added many people take more medicine than they should.
Edwards said heightened police awareness will be in effect during the holiday season with operation Drove Sober or Be Pulled Over. “The NJ Division of Highway Traffic Safety runs two programs throughout the year, one during the summer and one at the end of the year,” said Edwards. The $4,440 grant given to the township will be used to offset the cost of police overtime; however it does not cover all costs.
Township police will have additional DUI patrols at different times of the day and night during the Dec. 7 through Jan. 2 time period. “We will expend more than we will be reimbursed,” said Edwards.
When asked if the additional cost to the township was worth it, Edwards replied, “Yes. From my point of view when you go to a fatal crash scene and the driver is arrested for DWI, at that point you just shake your head. There’s no point to it. It could have been prevented had he not been on the road and been arrested, not driven or made the right choice and not drive. That’s what makes it worthwhile.”