CDOT launches 9 day Drug Recognition Expert training for law enforcement

CASTLE ROCK, Colo. (KRDO) - On Monday, the Highway Safety Office at the Colorado Department of Transportation launched a Drug Recognition Expert training program (DRE) for law enforcement. CDOT says the program comes as there is a 44 percent increase in fatal crashes linked to impaired drivers since 2019.

The DRE School is a nine-day intensive training at the Castle Rock Fire/PD Training Center that gives law enforcement officers the knowledge, skills, and abilities to detect drivers who are impaired by a variety of drugs. Officers learn how to document the impairment and present a case in a courtroom setting on drug-impaired driving.  

The training includes classes, large textbook-like manuals for all to read, in-person scenarios with drunk people in a controlled environment, and a serious test at the end that requires a perfect score to pass.

“It's not just a quick 'check a box' kind of thing," said Corporal Ivan Alvarado, who's completing the program on behalf of Colorado State Patrol. "This is learning the history, this is learning the science. And it really, really goes in depth into how the body reacts to drugs and alcohol.”

Those reactions are usually obvious in a drunk driver, but can be harder to detect in someone who is high on drugs.

"There is not a breathalyzer for drugs and people don't even realize that it's very, very common for us to find people that do alcohol, do marijuana, and do other drugs all at the same time,” said Alvarado.

Despite the intense nature of the program, the officers involved say they’re ready for the challenge if it makes the roads safer.

"I hope that we're able to make a difference because the last thing that anybody wants is to be involved in a situation in which a drunk or drugged driver caused anybody to get hurt," said Alvarado. "Hopefully that's our job to make sure that we get them off the road.”

Eighteen law enforcement officers from communities across the state will participate, which include Arvada, Montrose, Salida, Sterling, Thornton, Vail, and Woodland Park.

According to CDOT, in 2021 there were 253 people killed by a suspected impaired driver in Colorado, which is 36 percent of all people killed in traffic crashes last year. 

“The officers who are participating in this training are to be commended for their commitment to traffic safety and making our roads safer from impaired drivers,” said Darrell Lingk, Director of the CDOT Highway Safety Office. “With one-third of deaths on our roadways attributed to impaired drivers, drug recognition experts are critical to reducing that number and ultimately getting to our goal of zero deaths.” 

Alcohol is still the common substance found in deadly crashes involving an impaired driver. But CDOT says there's a concerning uptick in fatal crashes that involve other drugs, like cannabis.

In 2020, it's estimated that 26 percent of drivers involved in fatal crashes and that were drug tested, had multiple impairing substances detected in their toxicology results, according to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The Colorado Division of Criminal Justice published a report in January 2022 analyzing more than 26,000 impaired driving cases that were filed in Colorado in 2019, following the cases from arrest to final court outcome. The DCJ report found:

• 45% of drivers tested positive for multiple substances. The most common combination of drugs detected was alcohol and Delta 9-THC, which is the primary psychoactive component of cannabis and may indicate recent use. The second most common pairing was alcohol combined with other drugs such as cocaine, methamphetamine, sedatives, and opioids. 
• 68% of individuals with detected Delta-9 THC also had some other substance present. Alcohol was the most common co-occurring substance.