The Huron Police Departments efforts to identify motorists under the influence of drugs and alcohol have expanded. The department announced Tuesday Officer Mark Johnson has become the H-P-D’s first Drug Recognition Expert. Huron Police Chief Gary Will Jr. says Johnson spent four weeks training, including 72-hours of class room instruction…
Johnson did a minimum of 12 evaluations while training in Arizona. Will explains just how Johnson and his new skills will be used…
[audio:http://prprt.itmwpb.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/688/2011/08/dre2.mp3|titles=dre2]Will says Johnson will be the only D-R-E in the department unless the need arises to have more officers trained. Johnson’s skills are a welcomed new tool for the Huron Police Department…
[audio:http://prprt.itmwpb.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/688/2011/08/dre3.mp3|titles=dre3]The D-R-E program began by the Los Angeles Police Department in the early 1970’s when officers first began to encounter impaired drivers with low or zero alcohol impairment. In 2010 a National Highway Safety Administration showed 16-percent of randomly tested drivers had drugs in their system and as many as one-third of the the drivers in all fatal crashes were under the influence of substances other than alcohol.