Fulton County Sheriff's Office Deputy Ryan Haney and Anthony (AJ) Styers recently graduated from Drug Recognition Expert Training (DRE), according to Sheriff Chris Sailors.

Drug Recognition Expert is an advanced training for highly motivated law enforcement officers who are active in OWI enforcement. Not everyone who applies for the training is accepted. It is believed Deputy Haney and Styers are the first local law enforcement officers to be accepted and complete the program.

       Deputy Ryan Haney      

    Deputy Anthony (AJ) Styers

This standardized training was made possible and paid for entirely by a grant through the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute (ICJI). The program was developed to enhance the officer’s ability to identify, evaluate, and document suspected drug impairment. Their training consisted of 3 separate phases of over 120 hours of training.

Phase One: The DRE Pre-school, which includes an overview of the DRE evaluation procedures, the seven drug categories, eye examinations, and proficiency in conducting the SFSTs.

Phase Two: The DRE School which includes an overview of the drug evaluation procedures, expanded sessions on each drug category, drug combinations, examination of vital signs, case preparation, courtroom testimony, and Curriculum Vitae (C.V.) preparation. At the conclusion of the training, the officer must successfully complete a written examination before moving to the third and final phase of training. This training was completed in Lawrence Indiana last month.

Phase Three: During this phase, the candidate DRE must complete a minimum of 12 drug evaluations under the supervision of a trained DRE instructor. Of those 12 evaluations, the officer must identify an individual under the influence of at least three of the seven drug categories and obtain a minimum 75% toxicological corroboration rate. The officer must then pass a final knowledge examination and be approved by two DRE instructors before being certified as a certified DRE. This training was completed in Jacksonville, Florida with both our deputies graduating on Friday, November 13, 2020.

Please join us in congratulating these two deputies on their completion of this training and dedication to better serve the citizens of Fulton County.