March 1998 Issue #3
The NJ DRE
Quarterly Meeting
January 15, 1998The last New Jersey DRE Association meeting was held at the Perth Amboy Police Department. There were thirteen people in attendance. NJ DRE Association Vice-President Sgt. Steve Kovacs was unable to attend due to a pre-planned vacation out of state. The Technical Advisor, Wayne Warner, was unable to attend due to severe ice storms in upstate NY.
Ernie Floegel of the IACP attended and encouraged everyone to talk up the program with other officers to increase the use of the DREs. The program continues to grow across the country with Alaska and Connecticut expressing interest.
Chuck Colleton, NJ DRE coordinator, stated that the implementation of the new breath unit (Drager Alco-Test 7110 Mark 3) will begin soon. The state police breath unit will be attending training the end of January 1998. It will be field tested across the state until case law is established and then the unit will be available for purchase by all police departments. The unit uses dual technology of infra-red and fuel cell.
The next DRE meeting will be APRIL 28, 1998 1000 HOURS SAYREVILLE FIRE ACADEMY
DRE INSTRUCTOR SCHOOL & DRE SCHOOL:
Steve Kovacs
A DRE instructor school was held January 5th through 9th. The class was held at the Middlesex County Fire Academy and 25 'new' DRE instructors completed the course.
The 4th DRE school in NJ was conducted at Troop A headquarters in Buena Vista, NJ, Atlantic County. The pre-school began on February 22, 1998 with 21 students and ended on the 23rd with 19 students completing the preliminary course. Eighteen students returned to the first day of the DRE school on February 25th. Congratulations to all 18 students who graduated from the DRE school on March 5, 1998. Good Luck on the field evaluations in Atlantic City and on the final knowledge exam. The field certifications began March 27th and will run every Friday and Saturday night (excluding Good Friday weekend) until the end of May.
The next course will be scheduled in the Central New Jersey area and hopefully will begin in September. Future schools are being scheduled for Ocean, Camden, Essex, and Burlington Counties. There is a waiting list for the school. Anyone with potential students should contact Sgt. Kovacs concerning prerequisites. (A new phone number and address for Steve Kovacs is listed at the end of the newsletter.)
Legislative Update
A resolution, establishing the weeks immediately preceding the driving holidays of Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and New Year's Day as "Safe Driver Awareness Weeks", was passed in the State Senate and the Assembly. The resolution cited that fatigued and drugged drivers contributed to the fatalities across the nation and in New Jersey. Driver fatigue and impairment may often be caused or worsened by the use of substances other than alcohol, which include herbal remedies, "designer drugs" and sedating medications- both prescription and over-the-counter. The resolution explains that the New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety is actively involved in training and certifying drug recognition experts.
The legislation introduced in 1997 needs to be re-introduced for 1998. The bill will amend the current wording of the DWI statute (39:4-50) from "Hallucinogenic, habit producing narcotics" to "any substance that impairs a persons ability to operate a vehicle safely". A second change in section 39:4-50.2 would require a suspect to submit to a complete DRE evaluation or be charged with a refusal. The changes in the DWI law will aid in getting convictions for impairment due to all substances. Support is needed to help get the bill re-introduced and ultimately passed into law.
THE PROSECUTOR's CORNER
Middlesex County Assistant Prosecutor and county DRE coordinator, Kenneth Lebrato, will be keeping track of all evaluations conducted in the county. Any Middlesex County DRE who completes an evaluation must fax a copy to Lebrato. The files will be used to track cases to judicial completion and they will also be used for re-certification purposes. Middlesex County DRE's will receive an hour credit towards re-certification for each DRE Association meeting attended.
DRE evaluations can be used for other purposes, Mike Grasso, North Brunswick Police conducted a drug evaluation on a suspect and the evaluation was used in an application for a search warrant of the suspect's residence for PCP.
President's Message:
Lou GuzmanThe Perth Amboy Police Department combined efforts with the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office to offer a DWI/Drug Impaired Driving course to every police agency in the state. We received a tremendous response and expanded the course to four days. The course was held in January and February 1998 at the Sayreville Fire Academy. Each class was eight hours in duration and included a law update, training blocks on impaired driving, drug categories, standardized field sobriety testing, and the introduction of new field tests. Students were also introduced to a new method of taking field notes. Sixteen instructors were utilized from Middlesex County, Bergen County, and the New Jersey State Police. A fifteen-minute presentation by a victim of an impaired driving offense, a member of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, sent a powerful message to all.
Over 230 officers attended the training, including sixty-seven officers from the Perth Amboy Police Department. Thirteen counties, including Bergen, Essex, Gloucester, Hudsen, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Ocean, Passaic, Somerset, Sussex, and Union, as well as the New Jersey State Police and Port Authority NY/NJ were represented.
DRE State Coordinator:
Chuck Colleton, state DRE coordinator, contacted the state police labs and inquired about the back up in receiving results. The labs have stated that when a DRE conducts an evaluation the results will be expedited if: the paperwork reflects it is a DRE evaluation and a phone call is made to the lab advising that it is a DRE evaluation. The state labs are backed up, but DRE evaluations are being given top priority.
Ed O'Connor is now the assistant state DRE coordinator. Any DRE inquires should be forwarded to him. He is planning on attending the next DRE association meeting on April 28th and the DRE conference in June.
Technical Advisor's Message:
Wayne WarnerEPHEDRINE USE
MYTH -
The use of non-medicinal, ephedrine-based products is a safe aid to working long hours in a plant or driving for an extended period of time.FACT - The misuse of any stimulant type drug, whether it's prescribed or purchased over the counter in a health food store or a drug store, is only a temporary fix, and a dangerous one at that.
The energy boost and enhanced alertness are very temporary and can also include such adverse reactions as dizziness, delirium, greatly increased vital signs, vertigo, nausea, irregular heartbeat, strokes and possible death. Prolonged use has reportedly lead to symptoms of schizophrenia.
Keep in mind that the after effects of any drug are exactly the opposite of the active or psychoactive effects. With a stimulant type drug you will feel very energized for a short time, then as the drug wears off you will experience the "down side." This effect, and the original fatigue, which you masked for a time, will result in a "crash," both physically and possibly literally.
Ephedrine products are sold as dietary supplements, bronchial congestion aids, and for the treatment of asthma. When used properly these products serve a legitimate purpose, but when taken in excessive amounts or when mixed with other stimulants such as caffeine, the results can be severe or even fatal! Any time two or more drugs are taken that cause a similar effect, the resultant effects are far greater than either one alone can account for. This is called the "synergistic effect." Simply put, one+one no longer equals two, with similar-acting drugs one+one can equal 8, 10 or more!
Some would say that "it's only ephedrine, body builders and dieters have been using it for years." In May 1996 New York Gov. George Pataki banned the sale of non-medicinal stimulants containing ephedrine after the deaths of 15 Americans were linked to the drugs. The last known death was that of a Long Island college student who died while on spring break in Florida after taking eight pills of a "completely safe and all natural" herbal stimulant containing ephedrine.
Users of stimulant drugs are known to exhibit a lack of concentration, impaired vision, and an increased tendency to take risks. None of these would be considered a desirable attribute in the workplace or when driving a vehicle.
A Fresh Perspective: Words From A New DRE
Ray Theriault; Egg Harbor Twp. Police
I recently attended the fourth class for Drug Recognition Experts given at New Jersey State Police Troop "A" headquarters in Buena New jersey. The classroom portion consisting of a three-day pre school and a seven-day school was the most intense police school I have attended to date. I have attended several accident investigation schools given by Northwestern University and IPTM in the past and they pale to compare to this school in terms of new material learned and the intensity of the class. The school days were long, usually from 8am to 5pm with some days going past 6pm.
After completing the school I came away with a good working knowledge of how the human body works and the effects that drugs have on it. I found the school to be much more in depth on human physiology than I expected. In addition the school was a great refresher course on the standardized field sobriety tests. These tests along with a battery of other tests are the foundation of the drug recognition evaluation. This school was also a great source of information on the process of being recognized as an expert in court, something that is lacking in all other advanced schools I have attended.
At the time of this writing I am now waiting to move onto the next phase of my certification, Field evaluations. My class will be conducting this phase in Atlantic City with the help of the Atlantic City Police department. This is the phase were we get to test the knowledge learned in the classroom on subjects under the influence of drugs.
After being certified I expect this knowledge to be used as another tool in the detection and prosecution of subjects driving under the influence of alcohol and or drugs. The knowledge gained should greatly improve the conviction rate of the impaired driver who is impaired with something other than alcohol. I would recommend this class to any officer who would like to see the DWI conviction rate increase for the non-alcohol-impaired driver.
The lead instructor of the class, Trooper First Class Kevin Fowler along with all the other instructors who are too numerous to mention are very dedicated to this program and are working extremely hard to get this program into full swing in this state. Most of the instructors were from North Jersey and traveled several hours each day to Buena to teach their block of instruction. I have yet to come across any other program within the police community that has such a commitment to it. My thanks to all the instructors.
THE 4th ANNUAL DRE CONFERENCE:
Portland, Oregon
The conference is scheduled for June 28 to June 30, 1998 at Double Tree Inn at Jantzen Beach Portland, Oregon. An IACP DRE Golf Tournament will be held on Friday, June 26. The Conference registration begins on June 27th and the training seminars begin on June 28th and conclude on June 30th with a dinner banquet. The applications were mailed in February. The registration deadline is May 15, 1998. For registration information call Ernie Floegel at (914) 682-6162 or Chuck Peltier at 1-800-THE-IACP.
*Editor's Note*
A newsletter will be published for all NJ DRE's. It will help keep everyone informed of updates and changes. Anyone interested in helping with this project should contact me, Peg Schmidt. Ideas and articles for the newsletter are welcome and the format currently used is Microsoft Word. Any articles can be e-mailed to me using that format if you want it published. Other articles can be mailed to me and I will re-type them for the newsletter.
Contact me if you would like someone added to the mailing list, or would like to be deleted from the list, or have a mailing address change.
Internet Connections of INTEREST
http://www.dot.state.co.us/public/transportationsafetyOn-line dictionaries of drug street terms can be located at:
http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/drugfact/terms/http://www.addictions.org/slang.htm
The web page for Citizens Against Drug Impaired Driving is:
LAPD has a web page with a section dedicated to the DRE program at
http://www.cityofla.org/LAPD/traffic/dre
A restricted list has been started by Charlie Ferry, DRE, New Castle PD, NY. The list provides a discussion forum for drug recognition experts. It is open to certified DRE's, toxicologists, prosecutors, and others who would be a good resource for the list and are interested in discussions about drug evaluations, drug impaired driving, drug symptomology, current drug trends, etc. The on-line registration form can be located at:
http://www.geocities.com/CapitalHill/8862/Form.htm
Charlie Ferry can be e-mailed at:
New Jersey DRE Association
contact list
|
President: |
Vice-president/State Police DRE Coordinator: Sergeant Steven Kovacs New Jersey State Police Alcohol & Drug Test Unit 380 Scotch Road Ewing, New Jersey 08628 Work: 609-671-0040 Fax: 609-671-0037 |
|
NJ DRE Coordinator: Chuck Colleton State of NJ Division of Highway Safety CN 048 Trenton, NJ 08625 Work: 609-588-3750 |
Assistant State Coordinator: Ed O'Connor State of NJ Division of Highway Safety CN 048 Trenton, NJ 08625 Work: 609-633-9048 |
|
Secretary/Editor: Sergeant Margaret (Peggy) Schmidt Woodbridge Township Police 1 Main Street Woodbridge, New Jersey 07095 Work: 732-634-7700 pspeg@aol.com |
Technical Advisor: Investigator Wayne Warner Jefferson County DA's Office 18813 Owens Rd. Adams Center, New York 13606 Pager: 1-800-950-1289 ext. 2874 dre1811@imcnet.net |
|
Legal Advisor: Assistant Prosecutor Kenneth Lebrato Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office P.O. Box 71 New Brunswick, New Jersey 08903 Work: 732-745-3300 |
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