DUI DRUG ARRESTS INCREASE IN GA.

Arrests for driving under the influence of drugs have increased during
the past five years in Georgia as more officers learn how to recognize
the kinds of drugs people are using, Georgia law enforcement officials
said.

Statewide, 150 law enforcement officers have been trained to look at
pupil dilation, pulse, raised taste buds and other specifics of
suspected impaired drivers and are certified as drug recognition
experts, commonly known as DREs, said Bruce Stanford, an instructor at
the Georgia Public Safety Training Center in Forsyth.

In 2001, 1,682 Georgia drivers were arrested for driving under the
influence of drugs, compared with 2,229 in 2005, according to
statistics released by the GBI.

Stanford, who trains DREs, said the training is responsible for such a
large increase.

The problem, he said, is many officers don't know the specific effects
different drugs have on the body.

"They may see something and know something is unusual, but they don't
know what it means," Stanford said. "Every class someone says 'you
mentioned something and I've seen that (during a traffic stop) before
and I let them go.' "

Some defense lawyers question whether DREs can find probable cause for
blood and urine tests and whether the other tests used are any better
than a hunch. But Stanford said that 91 percent of the time, blood and
urine tests have supported officers' suspicions about the type of drug
they suspect someone of using. Stamford stressed that DREs take
several indicators into account when deciding to move on to bodily
fluid tests.

Several Middle Georgia law enforcement agencies say they have a few
DREs, but it's unclear what impact DREs have had on DUI arrests at
midstate law enforcement agencies. Many agencies don't separate DUI
statistics into drug-related or alcohol-related arrests.

The Houston County Sheriff's Office does, and a deputy there said DRE
training has led to more people being arrested for driving under the
influence of drugs.

During the past five years, the Houston County Sheriff's Office
increased its drug-related DUI arrests from 120 in 2000 to 198 in
2005, Sgt. Mike Stokes said.

He said DREs also have more success getting their cases
prosecuted.

Now officers can do more than just say someone "looks high," he said.
DREs can see "the indicators and then are able to articulate those
indicators in court and articulate it to a jury," he said.

"It's very good evidence," he said.

Macon police Lt. Eric Woodford said he could not say how many DREs are
on the Macon force because many are no longer on patrol or have left
the department. The Bibb County Sheriff's Office has five DREs.

Stanford said arrests for driving under the influence of drugs
actually declined from 1999 to 2000 after a court decision required
that even if a driver tested positive for marijuana use, they must
show impairment. In fact 2005 arrest numbers for DUI drugs are at
about the same level as they were in 1999. Stanford cited more DRE
training for getting those numbers to increase back to 1999 levels.

Jim Shuler, a spokesman for the Governor's Office of Highway Safety,
said there are several variables that affect DUI numbers in the state.
The office funds DRE training in the state.

He said there are other factors such as grant-funded DUI roadblocks
and special DUI patrols.

Rachel Caputo, a Macon defense attorney, said she has taken a DRE
course and said peace officers aren't qualified to make medical
assessments.

"It's very dangerous to take on the role of a medical professional and
then use that in order to convict someone - to make them a criminal,"
she said.

Caputo said she has beaten some DUI drug cases that involved DREs but
lost others. She said some people have attention deficit disorder and
other conditions that could lead officers to say they have probable
cause to test someone for drugs.

Stanford said DRE is much simpler than it seems. If the average person
finds someone with slurred speech, bloodshot eyes and smelling of
alcohol, he can conclude that person is drunk. He said DREs do the
same thing, only with more indicators and different substances.

"It's really not as far-fetched as people try to make it seem," he
said.