Somerset Volunteers drink to help train police
By MICHELLE GANASSI
Daily American Staff Writer
Thursday, April 26, 2007 3:26 AM EDT
Six people helped local police by having a few drinks Wednesday.
The volunteers consumed alcohol so the Somerset County DUI Task Force
could practice administering field sobriety tests at the borough building.
Somerset Borough police Officer Stephen Borosky administers a field sobriety test on Tammy Labrel while Somerset County DUI Task Force Coordinator Franco Sanna, of the Somerset Borough police, watches. (Staff photo by Michelle Ganassi) |
The volunteers drank until their blood-alcohol content
was around
0.12 percent. Instructors monitored the volunteers, performed
breathalyzers and watched as the officers performed the tests.
Kurt Braun, instructor for the Institute for Law Enforcement Education,
said the drill is designed to help police officers notice signs a person
may exhibit when their BAC is slightly over the state legal limit of
0.08 percent.
Conemaugh Township police Officer Mike Popma said the training gave him
a unique opportunity to work with intoxicated people instead of watching
tests performed on a video.
“They've been impaired and you get to perform the tests in real
time,” he said. “You see things you are going to see out
in the field. Other types of training did not have this hands-on approach.”
Tammy Labrel, a criminal justice major and bartender, volunteered for
the experience. Labrel said she thought smoking and eating lowered a
person's blood-alcohol level, but she was surprised to find out she was
wrong.
“I would do it again,” she said. “It's a different
experience.”
For Popma, the training is a way to better prepare officers to make the
streets safer.
Somerset Officer Franco Sanna, the task force coordinator, said local
police officers were thrilled to have this experience.
“This has been something they have been waiting for, for years,” he
said.
Braun said people are not allowed to leave until their blood-alcohol
level drops below 0.05 percent. The volunteers were released to someone
who signed a waiver taking responsibility for their actions and were
told not to drive until today.
Sanna said the officers would take their practical exam today.
“The instructors watch us doing it step by step,” he said. “If
we don't do it correctly, we fail.”
(Michelle Ganassi may be reached at michelleg@dailyamerican.com.)
Posted 04-26-07
Somerset Borough Police Department, PO Box 71, 340 West Union Street, Somerset, PA 15501, 814-445-4596