S. JERSEY POLICE LEARNING TO DETECT DRUGGED DRIVING

A program shows them what to look for, and how to prove it in court,
when motorists are high but not on alcohol.

Seven years ago, Pennsauken Police Sgt. Thomas Connor was called to a
minor traffic accident at the Airport Circle on Route 130. At the
scene, he found a car resting against a pole. It appeared to be a case
of driving while intoxicated.

Though the driver was uninjured, he swayed on his feet and appeared
disoriented. But Connor smelled no alcohol, and there was no probable
cause to make an arrest. The driver was taken to a hospital, treated
and released.

Other officers in the Pennsauken Police Department's traffic division
tell similar tales: of seeing a vehicle careen from lane to lane, of
stopping it and noticing that the motorist seemed to be under the
influence of a controlled substance but not alcohol, of being unable
to prove beyond a reasonable doubt in court that the driver was
intoxicated, of having no choice but to release the motorist with a
ticket for a minor traffic violation.

"I've been calling it a loophole for years," Connor said. "The
crackheads are slipping through the cracks."

Now South Jersey officers hope to close the loophole - and soon. For
the first time, officers from Burlington, Camden and Gloucester
Counties are taking the Drug Recognition Expert Program - which
teaches how to detect the physical effects of drug use and to compile
reports that can be used in court.

The program, developed in Los Angeles in the late 1980s, is
administered by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Thirty-four states - including New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and New
York - participate.

Pennsylvania does not. In Philadelphia, Sgt. George Golden of the
Accident Investigation Division said city police rely on blood tests
to prove that motorists were driving under the influence of drugs.

"If a person blows a 0.02 [far below the legal limit of 0.10 percent
on a blood-alcohol breath test] but they're slurring their speech and
their balance is poor, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that
they're on something," Golden said. "That's the probable cause. Blood
will give us exactly what is in their body at the time when they are
driving."

He said that Philadelphia officers order blood tests for 20 percent of
drivers stopped for driving while intoxicated, and that 97 percent
test positive for drugs.

But in Pennsauken, Chief John Coffey said getting a blood test was
difficult. A suspect on drugs, he said, may be violent, and blood must
be drawn by a hospital physician, who would have to testify as an expert.

"It just doesn't happen," said Coffey, adding that he hoped the blood
tests would soon no longer be necessary.

In mid-March, one officer from Burlington County, 17 from Camden
County, and four from Gloucester County began taking the three-week
Drug Recognition Expert Program, which is funded by the state Division
of Highway Traffic Safety and offered through the Camden County Police
Academy at the Camden County Complex in Gloucester Township.

The officers are expected to complete the training in May. The program
was introduced in New Jersey in 1991. Since then, 152 of the
approximately 35,000 officers in the state have been trained, most of
them in North Jersey.

Using tools normally wielded by doctors - stethoscopes, penlights and
eye charts - the officers learn how to identify and catalog the
effects a drug has on the body. The results can be used in court to
convict suspects of driving under the influence of controlled substances.

The training in Gloucester Township is the first offered to officers
in this area.

They say they have needed it for years. Many roads to and from
Philadelphia, they point out, pass through Pennsauken, including
Routes 73, 90 and 130 and the Admiral Wilson Boulevard.

Pennsauken officers charge about 400 drivers a year with DWI. Connor
estimates that 100 of those motorists are released with minor charges
because officers are unable to identify drug abuse in a method that
can withstand scrutiny in court.

The drugs the officers test for include heroin, cocaine, Ecstasy, PCP,
prescription medications, glue and nitrous oxide.

Pennsauken Officer Scott Gehring said drug users had a new tactic to
beat the system: By drinking a small amount of alcohol and taking a
prescription drug, such as Valium or Percocet, they get high and avoid
a DWI charge.

"We bring them in," Gehring said, "and nothing shows on the
Breathalyzer. We'd have to give them a ticket for careless driving or
making a bad lane change. They'd walk out laughing."

Another problem arises when people take prescription or
over-the-counter cold medications. These drugs, especially when taken
together, can impair driving skills.

"A great majority of these medicines come with warnings," Connor said.
"They say: 'Don't operate machinery.' People have to realize that a
car is machinery."

The program also trains officers to recognize brain injuries and
diabetic shock, which can produce symptoms similar to DWI, such as
slurred speech and disorientation.

Connor said that someone suffering from insulin or diabetic shock
emits fruity, acrid breath that cannot be mistaken for alcohol and
that brain injuries can be detected through eye tests.

To complete the course, the trainees must hit the streets and evaluate
six people under the influence of drugs - driving or not - and observe
six more evaluations.

On a recent Friday, the trainees were helped by eight detectives and
officers who patrolled Pennsauken's streets in an attempt to find drug
users. They took in seven suspects.

One, a 34-year-old man from Merchantville, was seen buying drugs in
Camden, then driving to Pennsauken. Officers followed, pulled him
over, and found four plastic bags of cocaine - in his mouth.

At the station, the man sat subdued in the glare of fluorescent lights
as Connor snapped on medical gloves and opened a black suitcase. Four
officers watched closely.

"What have you drunk today?" Connor asked.

"A quarter bottle of Jack Daniels and five beers," the man
answered.

On the Breathalyzer, he registered 0.08 percent blood alcohol. Yet it
was clear that he was more than drunk. As he sat, the muscles of his
jaw, temples and cheeks rippled, flexed and throbbed.

"You see his face?" asked Richard Rosell, a state police sergeant and
an instructor in the program. "That's completely involuntary."

The man admitted having snorted four bags of cocaine an hour before he
was caught. Using eight indicators of drug abuse, Connor began
assembling the evidence needed to convict the man of DWI.

The man's heart rate was 92 beats a minute, above the normal range of
60 to 90 but not as high as would be expected after the ingestion of
four bags of cocaine.

"It should be above 100," Rosell said. "But the beer is pulling him
down while the crack has him going up."

Connor put the man through a series of balance tests. In one, the man
stood with his head back and eyes closed and was asked to silently
count to 30. He took 51 seconds to finish.

In another, the man had to walk heel to toe in nine straight steps,
pivot, and walk back in nine straight steps. As he walked, his arms
flared out to keep his balance. While counting, he stumbled over
several numbers.

Connor then sat him down for a series of eye tests. The man was asked
to follow a pen moved slowly back and forth. Normally, the eye follows
the object smoothly. Under the influence of alcohol, the eye jerks
involuntarily from side to side.

Connor also checked the size of the man's pupils and flashed a light
on his eyes to measure reaction time. The eyes, dulled by the cocaine,
reacted slowly.

"They can't hide these symptoms," Connor said. "If they have them,
we'll see them."

To complete the exam, the man gave a urine sample. He was charged with
possession of cocaine and released pending a court date.

Municipal prosecutor Mike Joyce said neither the tests nor the sample
could stand alone in court. The sample can determine whether drug use
had occurred, he noted, but not when.

"There's a fair chance that the state would have had difficulty
proving that he was intoxicated and driving a vehicle," Joyce said.
"But now you have a strong case."

Officers trained in the Drug Recognition Expert Program testify
against 50 to 75 DWI offenders per year, with a conviction rate "well
over 90 percent," said Trudy Dial, deputy director of the Bergen
County Office of Highway Safety.

Since it began, said Ed O'Connor, who administers the training for the
state Division of Highway Traffic Safety, the program has not been
challenged in court.

"Everyone pleads guilty," he said. "I think their attorneys see the
[officers'] credentials and advise [their clients] to stick to their
guilty plea. There has been no rejection of the DRE program."

O'Connor is waiting for a case to proceed through the justice system
to the state Supreme Court, where the process could be tested.

"I don't think it's going to be a problem at all," Camden County
Prosecutor Lee A. Solomon said. "We can establish certainties based on
new technology. Courts are always accepting of that. It doesn't mean
it's speculative."

With the program still in its infancy, civil-rights advocates are
taking a cautious stand.

"My early reaction is that it may be a sound practice. It's not fair
that people can get [prosecuted] for alcohol and not for drug abuse,"
said Deborah Jacobs, executive director of the American Civil
Liberties Union of New Jersey.

Capt. Jack Robinson of the Bensalem police said the program could be
useful in his township.

"It's something the Pennsylvania legislators should look at," he
said.

Capt. Stephen Johnson, commanding officer of Philadelphia's Highway
Patrol, also expressed interest.

"I have consulted with our police academy," he said. "They will look
into implementing it in the future, if possible."

Back in Pennsauken, Connor is optimistic about future drugged-driving
convictions.

"Everything," he said, "indicates that DWI drivers should be very
worried."