Officers learn to identify people driving high

Drug recognition experts will form a pillar of police's strategy

By: Steve Janoski
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey

..... New Jersey's decision to legalize marijuana will likely have at least one unintended consequence - it's going to make Mike Focarino much busier.
..... Focarino, a Paramus police officer, is one of about 500 officers throughout the state trained as a drug recognition expert - someone who not only spots impaired motorists, but runs them through a battery of tests designed to pinpoint exactly which drug is crashing the party.
..... State officials still aren't sure if legal weed will mean more people driving high. But if authorities do see a rise, they'll depend on these officers; expertise to make arrests and prosecute cases.
..... That doesn't worry Focarino, who rattled off every detail of the state-administered drug recognition course like a diner waitress reciting a lunch order
..... "I look at the test and other indicators, like what happens on the side of the road and the interview with the arresting officer," Focarino said. "I've received wonderful training ... and I'm confident making a decision."
..... As the Garden State struts into its first month of legalized recreational marijuana, drug recognition experts will form a pillar of law enforcement's strategy to clear the roads of cannabis-impaired drivers. but the small number of trained officers - and a looming state Supreme Court decision that could torpedo the experts' credibility on the stand - threats to complicate things.
..... To start, most of New Jersey's 38,000 law enforcement officers are not qualified drug recognition experts - only one of every 76 has gone through the weeks-long course and earned the title, according to state statistics.
..... That means not every department has one. And although departments in need can call to an expert from another town, that potentially stretches thin their already lean ranks.
..... Regular rank-and-file officers don't have much training on ho9w to spot impaired drivers, whether form alcohol or drugs, said Pat Colligan, head of the state's largest police union. The state's police academies touch on the subject but rarely go in-depth, he said.
..... "It's not a priority there - they just don't spend a lot of time on it," Collign said.
..... but many departments send their officers for further training after graduation, he said. This could include courses on ow to run the Alcotest machine, which samples the breath to detect blood alcohol content, or the state's standardized field sobriety testing, which teaches officers to administer and interpret roadside tests, among other things.
..... About 2,500 officers have taken the sobriety test training since 2017, according to the Attorney General's Office. another 1,500 have gone through the state's advanced roadside impairment driving enforcement program, which teaches officers the sings and symptoms of various types of drug use. And about 900 officers have taken the state's one-day course on drug-impaired driving.
..... Then there are the recognition experts, which the state Attorney General's Office has called "the most effective tool currently available that law enforcement can utilize to determine drug impairment," according to an inter-agency memo sent to the New Jersey Office of Legislative Services.

'Nothing is really definitive'

..... The Attorney General's Office said in the memo that it's not clear what effect, if any, marijuana legalization will have on impaired-driving rates.
..... But testing the drug's effects on motorists can be difficult.
..... The memo said it's not clear if authorities can determine impairment by testing THC levels in the blood. The state also hasn't declared an allowable limit. And even if it had, no testing devices have been deemed scientifically reliable in American courts, the memo said.
..... These hurdles mean recognition experts will likely form the foundation of police efforts to change drug-impaired drivers.
..... The experts, all of whom graduated from a weeks-long training course established by the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, employ a 12-step process based on "observable signs and symptoms that are known to be reliable indicators of drug impairment," the memo said.
..... The Los Angeles police Department first developed the program in the 1970s when officers noticed many of those arrested for driving under the influence had little to no alcohol in their systems, according to the chiefs of police website.
..... So two city police sergeants collaborated with medical professionals to build a standardized procedure for recognizing drug use. The resulting program has been adopted by officers in all 50 states, as well as Canada and several other countries.
..... Arresting officers will call in a recognition expert when a driver;s level of impairment far exceeds the amount of alcohol found in their system, for instance. The expert runs an hour-long series of tests to determine whether the person is impaired, if that impairment is due to a medical condition, illness or drug use, and which set of drugs the person most likely imbibed, given the symptoms.
..... "The [recognition expert] will systematically consider everything about the person that could indicate the influence of drugs," the website said.
..... It's a complicated, challenging task, said Dr. Lewis Nelson, the chair of emergency medicine at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. although Nelson said there's no question a trained expert can often identify the culprit drug, nothing in medicine is foolproof.
..... So in the end, it will be up to a judge and jury to decide the admissibility and credibility of the recognition experts' testimony, he said.
..... "The advantage of the experts is they do real-time, structured, objective analysis of predictable clinical findings associated with the various drug intoxications," Nelson said. "But they do have to be careful about claiming to be definitive, because nothing is really definite here."
..... It can also be though to identify high drivers, Nelson said, because they're not as conspicuous as drunken drivers, for example.
..... "Your reflexes are slowed a title bit and your judgment is impaired, but you tend to drive slower and less aggressively than people who use alcohol or a stimulate," Nelson said. "You're not normal by any means. But [marijuana] is not nearly as impairing as alcohol. But it's nowhere near being sober."
..... Plus, field sobriety tests such as standing on one leg weren't effective when it came to gauging marijuana intoxication, according to an April 2021 report from the U.S, Justice department.
..... New Jersey has the second-highest number of recognition experts in the nation. Only California has trained more.

supreme Court decision

..... Of course, not everyone is convinced the recognition experts' determinations are always accurate.
..... Defense attorneys have long questioned their training and reliability, said Warren Sutnick, a certified Municipal Court attorney from Hackensack. And in each case, judges can decide whether to accept the testimony.
.... Sutnick - like many others on both sides of the issue - eagerly awaits a state Supreme Court decisions that will finally decide whether recognition experts' testimony is as trustworthy as proponents say.
..... In the next few months, the high court will either affirm or overturn the conviction of Michael Olenowski, a now-deceased Denville man twice arrested for driving while intoxicated in 2015.
..... Olenowski was badly impaired on both occasions and struck a telephone pole during the second incident, according to an appellate court decision that upheld his conviction.
..... But Olenowski's blood alcohol content did not match his level of apparent drunkenness - he blew a .04% after his first arrest, about half the legal limit, the decision said. And the Alcotest machine did not find any alcohol in his system after the second arrest.
..... Both times, the arresting office called a recognition expert to examine Olenowski. and both times, the expert found Olenowski was allegedly under the influence of a cocktail of drugs, including both stimulants and depressants.
.... Olenowski claimed the recognition experts' testimony should not have been admitted because it's unreliable and not generally accepted by the scientific community.
..... Lower courts achieve ruled against him, however. In 2018, a panel of appellate court judges found the facts "more than sufficient to sustain his DWI conviction," according to their decision.
..... Olenowski died in 2020. But his case is still being argued by the New Jersey chapter of the ACKU and the state Public Defender's Office.
..... SutnicK said he would feel vindicated if the Supreme Court overturned the conviction. But he doesn't expect that to happen.
.... "I'd be surprised," he said with a laugh. "But that would be wonderful."

More training?

..... In an inter-agency memo, the Attorney General's Office boosting the number of recognition experts won't necessarily lead to more intoxicated driver arrest, even with legalization.
..... It's more important to train rank-and-file officers to spot the signs of drug impairment in the drivers with whom they frequently interact, the memo said. then they can call the expert later if they need to.
..... Meanwhile, shorter, less intense courses such as field sobriety testing should take precedence because they'll ensure impaired drivers are found and arrested, the memo said.
..... "The Acting Attorney General is committed to ensuring that there are enough officers trained and available to address the problem of impaired driving," an attorney general spokesman said in an email.
.... Either way, Focarino, the Paramus officer, doesn't expect his work to change, even under the new rules created by a cannabis-friendly New Jersey.
..... "It's always been the same: You cannot be impaired by marijuana while driving," Focarino said. "So my job is exactly the same."

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