‘Business as usual’ for police screening for drugged driving
Calgary police say their approach to detecting drug-impaired driving won’t change when recreational cannabis becomes legal Wednesday.
Const. Dan Kurz said it will be “business as usual” for the service this week in terms of staffing levels and roadside screening methods.
“We’ve been enforcing drugimpaired driving for years now,” he said Monday. “The only thing that will change come Wednesday is likely our phones will ring a little bit more, but we’re fully prepared to meet that demand.”
Kurz said the agency won’t initially use the Dräger DrugTest 5000 screening device, which is the first device approved by the federal government to detect marijuana and other drugs in saliva.
Instead, it will continue to use standardized field sobriety testing and the drug recognition expert program.
The service has 287 officers trained to conduct roadside sobriety testing when drug impairment is suspected and roughly 30 to 35 drug recognition officers to conduct a full evaluation once someone is arrested. Kurz said those numbers will continue to grow as training courses are added for current officers and recruits finish training.
Kurz said the decision on purchasing screening devices will be made with other police agencies in Alberta.
“The Dräger is one of a number of devices that are set to come down the pipes,” he said.
“The decision to purchase those devices (is) not in CPS’s court on its own. That purchase will be made kind of as a province. All agencies will decide which is the best one for our needs and then that purchase will be made at a provincial level so we can standardize the training throughout the province.”
Alberta RCMP officials, meanwhile, have ordered four of the screening devices, which will be “strategically deployed” around the province. RCMP Chief Supt. Brad Mueller said Friday officers have started training in the use of the devices, which have not yet arrived.
Mueller said about 400 Alberta RCMP officers are trained to administer the standard field sobriety test and 42 officers are trained as drug recognition experts.
Mounties in Alberta say they are aiming to train a third of their members in standard field sobriety testing by 2020.
Adam Palmer, Vancouver police chief and the president of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, said at a news conference Monday roadside screening devices are “an additional tool for police officers” and just one part of the solution.
“The CACP encourages further research and development of screening devices capable of quantifying THC levels,” he said. “However, each individual police service in Canada will evaluate and determine the potential use of drug-screening devices to meet the needs of their police agency and the communities they serve.”
Alberta Sheriffs, who work with the RCMP in integrated traffic units throughout the province, will continue to use their training to spot signs of impairment while conducting traffic enforcement on Alberta highways, according to Alberta Justice and Solicitor General.
“Wednesday’s legalization of cannabis doesn’t change that,” a spokesman said.