Course teaches officers how to better detect drunken drivers

For every four traffic fatalities in Aiken County, there is one homicide.

Two of those traffic deaths are alcohol-related, said Cpl. Chris Carter with Aiken Public Safety.

Curbing those numbers is the prevailing reason that a number of officers are training at Aiken Public Safety to spot the signs of an impaired motorist.

Over the weekend, Public Safety arrested five drivers, charging each with drunken driving.

"All but one of those officers who made the arrests this weekend have been through this class," said Brian Key, one of the four instructors teaching the advanced training course.

Officers receive basic training at the police academy, but the class that Key, Carter, Sgt. Ben Harm and Cpl. Jeremy Hembree teach goes one step further, explained officer and student Chris Walker.

"This hones our skills," Walker said.

There are 12 students from South Carolina taking the course.

As part of the lesson, the officers perform a number of tests on volunteers who have consumed different amounts of alcohol as well as a control student who did not drink. The volunteers are asked to perform the same battery of tests the officers will perform during a traffic stop.

The tests look familiar to anyone who has ever seen an episode of "COPS."

The volunteers are asked to do what Carter explained are "divided attention" tests. They perform a test of standing on one leg, walk a line on the ground, follow a pen with their eyes and repeat numbers and letters to the officer.

"The purpose of the tests is not only to make an arrest but also make sure we are making good cases," Harm said.

The officers were not told in advance that one of the test subjects had not consumed alcohol. They ran the same battery of tests on each person. After giving the tests, the officers discuss the case and then decide whether they would make an arrest.

The class is a four-day course.

"The more they do this the better they get," Carter said.

The officers, he said, become proficient.

The overwhelming drunken driving deterrent is "going to jail," Carter said.

"These officers are have more tools to detect a drunken driver, and that should deter (motorists) who have been drinking," the officer said.

Contact Karen Daily at kdaily@aikenstandard.com.