DM cops create "Wet Lab" to combat drunk driving

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Jacob T. Stephens
  • 355th Wing PA
DAVIS-MONTHAN AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  The training was conducted by members of the 355th SFS, with instructional help from Pinal and Pima County Sheriff’s Office, as well as the Arizona Department of Public Safety, to ensure the training kept in accordance with the National Highway Safety Administration course.

“This course entails covering a driving under the influence investigation from start to finish,” said Tech. Sgt. Steven Lewis, 355th SFS HGNC coordinator. “It encompasses all of the different aspects in making an arrest: From the traffic stop, detecting a DUI, what we see whenever we make contact with the driver and then going into the field sobriety test for a possible DUI arrest.”

The three days of in class training culminated with the “wet lab” where they applied what they learned in a realistic setting. Volunteers, over the age of 21, consumed alcohol in a controlled environment allowing defenders to practice effective recognition.

Defenders used this course to effectively sharpen their skill sets of identifying signs of intoxication and knowing what to expect with impaired driving and DUI situations.

“I feel like I am going to be able to positively identify impaired driving now that I have this further training and hopefully keep more impaired drivers off of the road,” said Airman 1st Class William Hackney, 355th SFS defender.

Claiming more than 10,000 lives a year, drunk driving is a very serious problem in the United States, one that security forces is hoping to combat and effectively reduce for the sake of the people they defend.

“Studies have shown that the more trained an officer is in detecting and processing a DUI, more intoxicated and impaired drivers are removed off the road. This increases safety on the installation and in Tucson,” Lewis said.

This ongoing training is a part of a continuous effort by the 355th SFS to protect Davis-Monthan AFB’s most valuable asset, its people.

Davis-Monthan AFB is dedicated to the safety of its people and the readiness of its Airmen to win the high-end fight.