MINERSVILLE - About 14 police officers and 12 volunteer drinkers were working together at the Goodwill Fire Company on Saturday to make highways safer from drunk drivers.
David R. Everly, regional DUI enforcement coordinator for Pennsylvania Traffic Safety Network Inc., said classes were put together for local law enforcement with help from the Pennsyylvania DUI Association to give officers both classroom and hands-on experience of what to do when stopping and testing an impaired driver.
"This is the most important training that a police officer can have as far as traffic law enforcement because we have so many incidents of impaired driving," said George Geisler Jr., Eastern PA law enforcement director for Team DUI at the Pennsylvania DUI Association. "We arrest about 50,000 people a year, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said that police only arrest one out of four drunk drivers, so that means theoretically, there's another 150,000 drunk drivers out there that should be arrested that aren't."
The officers were from Minersville, Port Carbon, Orwigsburg, Danville, Cass Township, Mount Carmel Township, Zerbe Township and Northumberland police forces, while the volunteer drinkers were found locally by Minersville police, who were hosting the classes.
Everly said the standardized field sobriety test is instructed the same way nationwide to police officers, and is an approved training of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Some of the instructors are state and municipal police, and drug recognition experts.
Before Saturday's tests with volunteer drinkers, Everly said that the officers had classroom time on Friday learning case law, how alcohol is absorbed in the system, the procedures to use for the field test, looking for a vehicle making traffic violations, and how to pick up on the signs and symptoms of alcohol impairment at very low blood-alcohol concentrations.
While the officers were receiving classroom training Saturday, the volunteers were in another room drinking beer, wine and liquor in a controlled environment.
Starting about 9 a.m., the volunteers would drink and then periodically have five or 10 minutes without drinking, where their blood alcohol content level was checked.
Everly said that all were drinking to get to a certain BAC level, which in the afternoon, the officers practiced giving the standardized field test.
"What you're learning from the field test is how to determine if somebody's impaired, at 0.08 (BAC) or higher," he said. "Some will be over the legal limit, and some will be under, but the officers will need to be able to determine whether or not they are impaired."
Everyly said that not just anyone can volunteer, that there is an extensive application, and those who applied must not have a criminal record or be taking medications. Plus, there was a height and weight chart, age limit, the ability to walk with no injuries, and then all were given an evaluation with a blood pressure test Saturday morning to make sure they were healthy.
"You don't want anyone to be a victim of a DUI, so if you can help the officers train to identify them and get them off the street, that's what we want," said volunteer Jake Peters, Pottsville. "I know I blew a 0.04 (BAC) and I wouldn't even think about getting behind a vehicle the way I feel right now, but apparently I'm still below what's legal."
Other volunteers said that the hardest part of the experience was having to wake up then start drinking at 9:15 a.m. on a Saturday.
"I also found it interesting that how I feel and how I look to the cops seems completely different," said volunteer Jessica Klotunowitch, Minersville.
All of the volunteers needed to have rides and to get to a BAC at or below 0.05 before they could leave at the end of the day.
Everly said that they wanted to thank Schuylkill County District Attorney Karen Noon, If it wasn't for her, they wouldn't have been able to buy the alcohol for the class, since his office runs on federal funding and isn't allowed to buy alcohol. Also, the Minersville Police Department and Chief Michael Combs for hosting the classes.
The officers will be having another day with both classroom and field tests, and another group of volunteer drinkers today.
The classes are done in Schuylkill County once a year.