City of Largo, Florida

A drug recognition expert (DRE) is a police officer trained to recognize signs of impairment in drivers under the influence of drugs, or in addition to alcohol. A DRE has received numerous hours of specialized training and has been certified by the International Association of Chief's of Police to evaluate suspects and determine:

1. If the subject is impaired?

2. If a medical condition is causing the impairment?

3. What Drug category(s) is/are causing the impairment?

There are over 5,000 DRE officers certified worldwide; currently as of 2010 there are only 211DRE's in the state of Florida, the Largo Police Department is proud to have two current certified DRE Officers.

A D.R.E. evaluation is a 12-step process where the officer first conducts a preliminary interview to determine if the impairment is caused by a medical condition, next is an interview with the arresting officer to gain further information about the subject and the overall situation. The DRE then follows the twelve step process, which includes field sobriety like exercises and tasks, a check of the person's vital signs is performed. The DRE also examines their eyes in several different lighting conditions, in addition to other observations.

Based on the totality of the circumstances and 12 step evaluation, the DRE forms an opinion as to whether or not the subject is impaired. If the DRE determines that the subject is impaired, the DRE will indicate what category or categories of drugs may have contributed to the subject's impairment. The DRE bases these conclusions on his/her training and experience and the DRE Drug Symptomatology Matrix. While DREs use the drug matrix, they also rely heavily on their general training and experience.

Largo Police Departments' DREs, assist in many types of investigations, they are heavily used in Traffic Homicide Investigations and also in DUI cases. For further information please feel free to contact the agency coordinator Ofc. A. Citrano.