Police Chief Magazine|Columns|Traffic Safety Initiatives
Traffic Safety Initiatives: Reducing Recidivism in DUI Offenders

The Spokane Municipal DUI Court is a treatment-oriented accountability court dedicated to changing the behavior of high-risk DUI offenders.

The court model utilizes a multidisciplinary team approach, including two drug recognition experts (DRE) from the Spokane, Washington, Police Department. Including a law enforcement officer as an active member of a DUI Court is statistically proven to reduce recidivism and lower court costs. Research shows when a law enforcement officer is a member of a treatment court team, recidivism is reduced by 88 percent compared to teams without law enforcement participation. Furthermore, law enforcement court session attendance lowers recidivism an additional 83 percent compared to courts where a law enforcement officer does not attend. In turn, higher graduation rates and reduced recidivism lead to lower costs.1

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Traffic Safety Initiatives: The Evolving Challenge of Poly-Drug Impaired Driving

The world of impaired driving isn’t what it used to be. Alcohol is still the old villain, but it’s no longer acting alone. A more complicated, more dangerous player has entered the scene—poly-dr...
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Traffic Safety Initiatives: How to Communicate More Effectively During Traffic Stops

A few years ago, the Colorado State Highway Safety Office identified a recent trend of increased refusal rates of impaired drivers of the required chemical test. While some U.S. states are implied con...
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Traffic Safety Initiatives: From Traffic Stops to Community Impact

According to the 2020 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, self-reported data revealed that 37.3 million individuals (ages 12 years or older) were current illicit drug users in the United States. M...
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Traffic Safety Initiatives: Legal but Lethal

Across the United States, police officers are encountering a troubling pattern: drivers who show unmistakable signs of impairment, such as slurred speech, slowed reaction time, or poor coordination, y...
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Traffic Safety Initiatives: Reimagining Minor Crash Response

While there are law enforcement agencies that are fully staffed, many do not have the resources necessary for timely response to every call for service. When considering how leadership could improve o...
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Traffic Safety Initiatives: Every Agency Needs More DREs

In 2023, there were over 1,500 drug-impaired drivers for each certified drug recognition expert (DRE) in the United States. Research has shown that a 10 percent increase in driving under the influence...
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Traffic Safety Initiatives: A Blueprint for Fatigue Risk Management on Patrol

Oscar Kilo—the National Police Wellbeing Service (NPWS)—is specifically designed to provide support and guidance for organizational wellness to all police agencies within England and Wales. The pr...
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Traffic Safety Initiatives: Detection in 60 Seconds

Impaired drivers pose a critical threat to public safety, and officers must be equipped with tools to detect impairment quickly and accurately. Advanced techniques can enhance the efficiency and sensi...
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Traffic Safety Initiatives: Grabbing at Smoke

Why is proving a case so difficult when the impairing drug of choice is marijuana? Police officers and prosecutors have become very skilled at investigating and convicting drivers impaired by alcohol....
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Traffic Safety Initiatives: Gabapentin Primer

The increasing use and misuse of gabapentin, an anticonvulsive medication, pose notable risks to public health and traffic safety. After obtaining U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval in 1993 fo...
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