The statistics on drug and alcohol abuse need no introduction or explanation. They speak perfectly well for themselves. According to FBI data, of the 11,302,102 total arrests made in 2013, drug abuse violations constituted the highest single category of crime (estimated at 1,501,043 arrests). The third-highest category was for individuals driving under the influence, which accounted for 1,166,824 arrests.¹

Considering those figures together, drug abuse and driving under the influence made up 24 percent of all arrests in the United States in 2013.

That striking fact is only the beginning. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that 10,076 people died in traffic crashes related to alcohol-impaired driving in 2013.² A recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that, in 2012, there were 41,502 deaths caused by drug overdoses in the United States, more than double the rate in 1999.³

These grim numbers and the symptoms and causes behind them pose enormous challenges for law enforcement and first responders of all stripes, not to mention society at large. While no magic bullet is forthcoming to solve the problem, police departments do have a host of ever-evolving tools and technologies at their disposal to help stop the growing problem and prevent tragedies before they occur.

Drug Testing in the Field

Field-testing unknown substances can be a complex—and not always foolproof—process. Even when the testing is straightforward, many public labs are overburdened and tests results are often delayed.

To avoid these problems, a new device from the Massachusetts-based company Rigaku Raman Technologies brings the lab to the palm of an officer’s hand. The Progeny ResQ has the ability to quickly identify approximately 12,000 different chemical compounds, including most illegal drugs. “It identifies unknown substances, be they illegal scheduled drugs or something toxic or harmful to the person handling it,” said Eric Roy, product manager for Rigaku Raman.⁴

The device, which weighs 3.5 pounds, sends a laser into the substance and uses a powerful internal computer to quickly find a match for the substance in its chemical library. The results are displayed in an easy-to-read format. “You can scan through bottles or bags,” Roy said. “So if a drug is in a plastic bag, you can scan right through it so it’s safe.”⁵

The Progeny ResQ also has the added value of being a learning computer. “If [officers] see something new that the computer cannot identify, they can add it to the library,” Roy said. “The detector will report that it does not know the substance, and you can tell the computer what it is.”⁶

With so many drug cases never seeing trial, effective and expeditious handling is paramount to a favorable resolution. “The earlier you can get an answer on a substance, [the] more likely the suspect is to admit to wrongdoing,” Roy observed. “You actually save money in the field because [the substance] doesn’t need to go to the lab and the chain of custody.”⁷

Many other tools also exist for detecting drugs in the field. To identify potential drugs inside the body of a suspect, the American Screening Corporation, headquartered in Louisiana, sells a wide range of testing strips and cups to analyze hair, urine, and other human samples for drugs and alcohol. Laboratory equipment is also available.

Through the Eyes of Impairment

“When people drink, they always think they’re not as bad as they really are,” observes Curt Kindschuh, a former sheriff’s deputy and alcohol counselor who founded Drunk Busters of America in 1995. He still owns the Wisconsin firm, which helps people to actually see how impairment hinders individual functioning.
Drunk Busters makes special goggles that are formulated to mimic the effects of alcohol and other substances on vision. During training and safety exercises, users don the goggles and perform basic tasks, typically with poor results.

“The vast majority of drunk drivers are fairly decent people. Lots of crashes [are] caused by first-time offenders,” Kindschuh said. “These goggles are an eye-opening way to show impairment while not being impaired.”⁸

Drunk Busters sells 10 different styles of goggles, available at $99 each, as well as other items that are designed to help raise awareness of and foster knowledge around the ways in which intoxication and other situations can hamper the senses. Different goggles mimic the effects of various levels of blood alcohol content (BAC), and there are also versions that demonstrate the effects of marijuana, LSD, and even sleep deprivation

To make accurate goggles, Kindschuh employs adult volunteers to consume alcohol as a way of researching the conditions of impairment. In situations with illegal drugs such as cannabis, manufacturers rely on scientific research to better understand the effects.

“It’s not about telling people not to ever drink alcohol. But if they’re of legal age and they choose to drink, it should be all about being responsible,” Kindschuh said.⁹ Kindschuh said the goggles work well for car and truck, boat, snowmobile, ATV, and gun safety training, among other potential applications. “The person wearing the goggles performs five or six tasks without the goggles, then they do it with goggles. It is really eye-opening not just for the doer, but for the people watching,”

Kindschuh said. “So many of these problems are so avoidable. And this makes a difference.”¹⁰

A Better Breathalyzer

The breathalyzer has become a key tool for police agencies. Over the years, they have become smaller, less expensive, and more versatile, but the inner workings of these devices have not fundamentally changed.

However, officials with the AK GlobalTech Corporation in New Jersey say they have created an innovative breathalyzer that could save departments time and money while maintaining the highest levels of accuracy.

The company’s AlcoMate line of breath alcohol testers is now equipped with what the company refers to as PRISM technology. PRISM enables users to circumvent the traditional need for time-consuming manual calibration, which traditionally has kept the testers out of commission for extended periods and, more importantly, had the potential to cause imprecise readings.

“The alcohol sensors need to be calibrated because alcohol and electronics don’t mix. Alcohol degrades the sensor over time,” explained Charles Lee, AK GlobalTech’s general manager. “The manual calibration takes the electronics around the sensors and corrects the programming to better interpret the samples. It was essentially having to re-teach the device how to interpret.”¹¹

That’s where PRISM comes in. The technology is essentially a disposable sensor cartridge that can be ordered and replaced as the sensor breaks down because of prolonged contact with alcohol, rather than having to mail the entire device away for calibration. “The sensor that degrades is on a cartridge that can be thrown into the regular trash, and we send a new cartridge that restores the device to day one accuracy,” Lee said.¹²

The company’s AlcoMate Premium model is $189.95 for the unit and costs $30 to replace the cartridge. The fuel cell–based Alco-Mate REVO is $249.95 for the unit, with replacement cartridges costing $89.95 each. It’s recommended that users replace the cartridge every year or after about 200 tests. “You get a fresh start every time,” Lee said. “Instead of spending hundreds of dollars on a new device, you’re just buying a new cartridge.”¹³

There are no hard data on ROI for the PRISM-enabled testers, but “the average device takes about 5,000 tests at the most, and these devices hit that with no loss in performance,” Lee said.¹⁴

Other technologies are also improving performance in breath alcohol testers. CMI, a Kentucky-based manufacturer, has created the Intoxilyzer 9000, which uses infrared wavelengths to detect both alcohol and substances designed to interfere with a normal breathalyzer’s interpretation. Additionally, Lifeloc Technologies, a Colorado company, now offers the Easycal, a user-friendly model equipped with web-based diagnostics, as well as easy calibration methods.

With a number of new options on the market with innovative and user-friendly features, law enforcement agencies can increase their capability to handle drug- and alcohol-related crimes efficiently, thus giving them more time and manpower to prevent further crimes and tragedies. ♦

Notes:
¹Federal Bureau of Investigation, Crime in the United States 2013, http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2013/crime-in-the-u.s.-2013/persons-arrested/persons-arrested (accessed June 22, 2015).
²National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, “Alcohol-Impaired Driving, 2013 Data,” Traffic Safety Facts, DOT HS 812 102 (Washington, D.C.: NHTSA, 2014), http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/812102.pdf (accessed June 22, 2015).
³Margaret Warner, Holly Hedegaard, and Li-Hui Chen, “Trends in Drug-poisoning Deaths Involving Opioid Analgesics and Heroin: United States, 1999–2012,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hestat/drug_poisoning/drug_poisoning.htm (accessed June 22, 2015).
⁴Eric Roy (product manager, Rigaku Raman Technologies), telephone interview, April 14, 2015.
⁵Ibid.
⁶Ibid.
⁷Ibid.
⁸Curt Kindschuh (founder, owner, Drunk Busters of America LLC), telephone interview, April 15, 2015.
⁹Ibid.
¹⁰Ibid.
¹¹Charles Lee (general manager, AK GlobalTech Corp.), telephone interview, April 15, 2015.
¹²Ibid.
¹³Ibid.
¹⁴Ibid.

Please cite as

Scott Harris, “Striking Back Against Statistics: Innovative Tools Help Reduce and Prevent Drug and Alcohol Crimes,” Product Feature, The Police Chief 82 (August 2015): 44–45.

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