Words and Light

Yesterday, I covered police officers who were training to administer standardized field sobriety tests.

© 2011 by The York Dispatch. Volunteer Brandon Freistat, a Fairview Township firefighter, follows Penbrook police officer Calvin Vanderpool's pen during a field sobriety test on Tuesday, April 19, 2011, at the York County Fire School. Vanderpool and 20 other central Pennsylvanian police officers have been undergoing a three-day training course to administer the standardized field sobriety test.

Two things I learned that surprised me:

1. Field sobriety tests do not include the driver’s having to recite the alphabet. Or recite anything.
2. The volunteers to whom the officers administered the tests actually were impaired. The seven volunteers had been drinking beer and mixed drinks in a controlled environment for about four hours before they met the officers.