Timmins Police are keeping the streets safer by getting trained in new methods of determining whether a driver is impaired.

For the next few days, nine Timmins Officers and ten Ontario Provincial Police Officers are being trained at the Timmins Police Service in Standard Field Sobriety Testing.

“It will allow us to develop the skills to recognize and enforce impaired driving in our community,” said Timmins Police Constable Brennan Campbell.

The testing means trained police officers won’t necessarily need any instruments to determine if a driver is impaired; their conclusion will be based on observations and the training of officers.

“They will be better acquainted,” said Corporate Communications Coordinator for the Timmins Police, Marc Depatie, “with those physiological signs that people display when they’ve been drinking even a marginal amount of alcohol. Or perhaps ingested even a marginal amount of some form of narcotic. Even recreational drugs that are on the cusp of being legal.”

There are three specific standardized tests that will determine whether or not there’s a level of impairment that would put the driver in a range that would make them harmful for the road.

The first is the Horizontal Nystagmus Test, which is done by watching the eyes of the driver and seeing how they move.

“Alcohol and some drugs affect your eyes in very specific ways,” said Campbell, “they cause your eyes to move in involuntary ways, hence showing signs of impairment.”

The second test is called the Walk and Turn test, where a subject walks down a line in heel-to-toe steps, then they turn around and walk back the same way.

The third test is the One-Legged Stand Test. This is when a person stands for a period of time with one leg off the ground.

“From watching them conduct that test,” said Campbell, “we can see certain clues that would give us grounds to believe they’re impaired by either drug or alcohol.”

This testing can be used in conjunction with a road-side screening device.

“It’s just another option we have at the side of the road,” said Campbell, “to provide us the evidence that somebody is or is not impaired. Proving somebody is not impaired is just as important as proving they are impaired, based on what we’ve seen at a traffic stop.”

All tools used by Police to show impairment in drivers is beneficial to the Police Service and to residents.

“Any tools we have that will provide us evidence to the offense,” said Campbell, “will make our cases stronger when they get to court. They also provide us with the ability to make our roads safer, identify more people who are out there driving under the influence of both drugs and alcohol. And from there, you know, we just generally want to keep our roads safe.”

These tests will identify any drug that might impair a driver, including recreational marijuana.

“It will identity any drug,” Campbell said, “it could be  prescription drug, could be marijuana, could be an illicit drug. We don’t determine what kind of drug, just a level of impairment.”

Police expect impaired driving will increase on the roads once marijuana is legalized in Canada on Oct. 17th.

“We have to make sure that the roads are as safe as possible,” said Marc Depatie, “So this will be another effective tool that the police have at the ready to use at the roadside so they can establish grounds for arrest for people who are trying to mask the signs of impairment or maybe are not overtly impaired but still should not be driving a motor vehicle.”

Laws are constantly evolving with changing times and Depatie says it’s the responsibility of the local police force to keep up.

“The police force is charged with making the streets as safe as possible,” he said, “we take that responsibility very [seriously]. So we’re making an investment in the training of our officers so that they’re better able to meet the demands of the modern legal environment.”

This testing can be seen as an investment towards safer streets in Timmins.

“This is an effort by your police force,” said Depatie, “to make their officers as best trained as possible. When the ultimate goal is safer streets, that’s an investment placed in the right direction.”

The Timmins Police will continue training officers in Standard Field Sobriety Testing until as many officers as possible are equipped with these new tools in detecting impairment in drivers.

“[It’s] so that, at any given time, any given shift,” said Depatie, “those officers will be able to apply their newly acquired skills, contributing to safer streets.”

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