This weekend I attended a DRE overview course in San Antonio, Texas. DRE stands for Drug Recognition Expert. In Harris County, Texas, the Drug recognition Expert is called in to evaluate suspects who are suspected of DWI due to alcohol, but blow a 0.00.
The DRE is called in to conduct a twelve step evaluation which consists of;
(1) a second confirmatory breath test
(2) an interview
(3) a preliminary physical examination
(4) an eye examination
(5) divided attention tests
(6) a check of vital signs ,including pulse and blood pressure
(7) a dark room evaluation where the pupils reaction to light is measured
(8) a muscle tone assessment
(9)an injection site assessment
(10)an interrogation where they ask the suspect what drugs they are taking
(11) toxicology via a urine sample, and finally
(12) the officer’s opinion.
The major flaw in the DRE evaluation is the tenth step. This is the step where the officer asks the suspect what drugs they have taken. This is done just before the officer offers his opinion on what classification of drugs he believes the suspect is under the influence of.
Dr. Fran Gengo, a professor of Pharmacology and Neurology broke down the government’s validation studies, many of which are in the form of government reports rather than peer reviewed scientific journal articles. One important study which was peer reviewed, revealed that when officer’s were not allowed to ask the suspect what drugs they had taken, their ability to correctly identify the proper category of drug was less than 50%. That means that they could have flipped a coin and been more accurate in their decisions.
If you were arrested for driving while intoxicated by drugs in Houston, Harris County, Texas, call us at 713-236-8744. We look forward to helping you.
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