Article Photos

Last Tuesday, law enforcement officers from across northwestern Pennsylvania spent the afternoon at Warren County's 911 Center sorting through a half a dozen people who reeked of booze, trying to determine who was drunk enough to be arrested under the suspicion of driving under the influence.

While all six people were legally inebriated, and more than willing to be tested, no one went to jail.

The exercise was part of a two-day training program conducted by the Institute of Law Enforcement Education (ILEE), and hosted by the Youngsville Borough Police Department and Warren County Team DUI.

The regional training program is held in the county every four to five years, according to Carl McKee, director of Warren County's Adult Probation Department.

McKee's department helped line up volunteers to drink and be tested, procured the alcohol and drink mixers and arranged for rides for volunteers to and from the testing site.

Volunteers for the two-day event were in for a long shift.

They were dropped off at the 911 Center at 8 o'clock in the morning, drank until their blood alcohol levels reached around 0.14 and then went through a series of constant testing. They were ordered to remain on site until their BAC dropped below 0.05.

On Tuesday, the last volunteer was released at 5:30 p.m.

"Getting the volunteers to be drinkers is harder than you think because it happens during the work week," McKee said.

"You've got to be careful selecting your drinkers. You can't use alcoholics, obviously. You can't get someone who quit drinking because they think they have a problem."

During the training sessions, volunteers were kept isolated in a break room at the 911 Center while officers went through training in an adjacent room on proper DUI testing techniques.

ILEE Deputy Director Mike Hanik, along with Warren County Sheriff Larry Kopko, coordinated the "dosing" of the volunteers with alcohol.

Each volunteer was provided three drinks over a four-hour period. Each drink was dosed with a specific amount of alcohol tailored to the volunteer's weight and gender with the intent of raising their BAC to 0.14.

A BAC of .08 is considered legally intoxicated in Pennsylvania.

Volunteers had their BAC tested via a breathalyzer when they first arrived at the 911 Center.

"I've had to turn people away before because they've showed up with a BAC of .08 or .10," Hanik said.

Hanik set a series of ground rules for the volunteers before the drinking commenced.

Cell phones were to be turned off.

And for good reason.

"Once you get drunk, you want to start making phone calls or sending texts," Hanik said. "We had one volunteer order 20 or 30 pizzas. Another man ordered a limo to pick up him and all the girls after the training to continue the party. The limo company called his home number and talked to his wife to confirm because he sounded inebriated on the phone. She wasn't very happy."

No one was allowed to leave the room without an escort.

Again, for good reason.

"We've had people just wander off and never come back," Hanik said. "They just disappeared."

The two-day training session included officers from across northwestern Pennsylvania, including Albion, Kane, St. Marys, Edinboro University, Brookville, Tidioute, the Warren County Sheriff's Department, Bradford and Youngsville.

Youngsville Police Chief Todd Mineweaser was instrumental in bringing the DUI training program to Warren County. He coordinated with Public Safety Coordinator Todd Lake to arrange use of the 911 Center in addition to contacting ILEE.

Mineweaser went through the training program in Oil City in 1996. He said he believes the course is essential for police officers who are making DUI stops.

Mineweaser said the training teaches officers how to spot various clues to determine whether or not a person might be legally intoxicated.

"To me, the training is a must-have," Mineweaser said. "You need this training to make a DUI arrest. When officers leave this course, they leave confident that they are going to make the right call."

During the hands-on training portion of the course, officers tested the intoxicated volunteers using an eye coordination test and two balance coordination tests, similar to what they would do during a suspected DUI stop. Afterward, the officers revealed during a roundtable discussion whether or not they would have arrested each volunteer. The volunteers' BACs during the time of the testing were also revealed.

"There's one going on somewhere every week in the state," Hanik said. "We travel everywhere to do these. It's very popular with the officers. It works very well for them."