Law Enforcement Training: ARIDE & DRE
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To become a DRE, officers must follow a rigorous three-phase training curriculum and learn to conduct a standardized and systematic 12-step evaluation consisting of physical, mental, and medical components. As of 2023, all 50 states plus the District of Columbia are participating in the program with about 8,000 officers trained nationwide. ARIDE training was developed in 2007 for the purposes of assisting detecting, police officers in “becoming more proficient at apprehending, testing, and prosecuting impaired drivers” and soliciting the investigative assistance of Drug Recognition Experts in drug-impaired driving investigations. While there are similarities between alcohol and many impairing drugs, there are a greater number of behaviors exhibited as the result of drug impairment that often go undetected without additional training and knowledge. Drug-impaired drivers are being stopped by police officers that lack the requisite knowledge and skills to properly identify the driver’s impairment and collect evidence of the crime. ARIDE training addresses this gap in knowledge.
Click here to find a DRE Coordinator in your state.
WHY ARIDE?
ARIDE assists in roadside impaired investigations and builds upon the training in SFST and augments it to test for drug impairment as well. This training also comes at no cost to the agency. However, ARIDE training, like most training, is not without its limitations, and roadside tests are only screening tools. They are designed to efficiently identify substance impaired drivers while facilitating the appropriate a(1n7)d timely release of non-impaired drivers. However, roadside sobriety tests do not provide any corroborating chemical evidence relative to a Driving While Intoxicated (DWI, DUI, OVI, etc.) charge. That evidence is typically available post-arrest. In most jurisdictions, the chemical corroboration for alcohol is in the form of breath or blood testing. With drug-impaired drivers, corroborating chemical evidence can be more complex. While a proven correlation between the alcohol level and the degree of impairment exists, there is no such toxicological connection for drug impairment. The prosecution must establish that any drug levels detected were affecting the driver at the time of the arrest. This is where a specialized trained officer becomes involved— the Drug Recognition Expert.
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Mothers Against Drunk Driving ®
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