Drug Recognition Program Honoree

From the Clarion News in Pennsylvania

Clarion Borough Police Officer William Scheckler Sr. recently received a letter of commendation for his “utilization of the state police drug recognition expert program.”

The program started in the 1970s in Los Angeles after officers noted that “many of the individuals arrested for driving under the influence had very low or zero alcohol concentrations.” There wasn’t any training to be able to differentiate alcohol from other causes including drugs or other substances so two of the LAPD officers solicited help from the medical community. Together, they developed a “standardized procedure for recognizing drug influence and impairment.”

The result was a “multi-step protocol and the first DRE program in the United States.” The article also points out that “43 states, the District of Columbia, three branches of the military, the Internal Revenue Service, and several countries around the world participate in the DEC program.”

In Officer Scheckler’s case, it was noted that one of his arrests and evaluations “has the distinction of being only the second evaluation of more than 2,000 in Pennsylvania in which an inhalant was called and confirmed by toxicology.”