Ada — Oklahoma Highway Patrol Troopers Keith Teel and Steve Payne completed the Drug Evaluation and Classification Program and are now certified drug recognition experts.
In the late 1970s, the Los Angeles Police Department began a program to recognize the signs and symptoms of a drug-intoxicated driver. This program was recognized by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and today 44 states, including Oklahoma, have the DECP/DRE program.
Teel and Payne join the ranks of only 392 other police officers, sheriff’s deputies, tribal officers, campus officers and state troopers to obtain this certification. The program requires four months to complete with weeks of classroom instruction, months of working in the Oklahoma County jail evaluating people who are under the influence of a variety of drugs and a final examination that takes over six hours to complete.
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