Sheriff's Deputies Complete Drug Recognition Expert Training

CARTERSVILLE, GA — Two deputies with the Bartow County Sheriff's Office recently completed a Drug Recognition Expert training course funded by the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety.

Deputies Corbett Tomsovic and Philip Abernathy of BCSO's H.E.A.T. Unit completed the 72-hour academic portion of the class at the Georgia Public Safety Training Center in Forsyth. The class teaches the seven categories of drugs, as classified by the Drug Evaluation and Classification Program, as well as observable signs and symptoms associated with each category.

Tomsovic and Abernathy also learned the normal ranges for human vital signs, eye indicators and responses, and trained in the proper administration and documentation of the DRE 12-step drug influence evaluation.

Impaired drivers are responsible for the deaths of nearly 50 people a day and almost 18,000
people each year, the Bartow County Sheriff's Office notes. Drug recognition is a growing field in law enforcement and has demonstrated its effectiveness as a means of identifying and prosecuting drug-impaired drivers. A properly trained expert can successfully identify drug impairment and accurately determine the category of drugs causing impairment.

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After completing the classroom portion of the training, both deputies traveled to Jacksonville, Florida, to take part in the field certification workshop. Both men performed the 12 step evaluation process on actual suspected drug impaired persons to improve their proficiency in the evaluation process and learned to accurately predict which drug category was causing impairment.

The Final Knowledge Exam tasked the officers in a narrative format to articulate a working knowledge of the evaluation process, the four effects seen during poly drug use and the proper documentation of a Drug Influence Report. This course totaled 160 hours of specialized training.

"We are extremely proud of their accomplishments," said Bartow County Sheriff Clark Millsap. "This specific training adds to our dedication of keeping our roadways safe."

Photo: Sheriff's deputies Corbett Tomsovic, left, and Philip Abernathy recently completed the Drug Recognition Expert training. Credit: Bartow County Sheriff's Office