The Drug Evaluation and Classification (DEC) Program is managed and coordinated by the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) with support from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) of the U.S. Department of Transportation.
The IACP has three staff persons dedicated to the coordination, expansion and administration of the DEC Program:
Program Manager: Carolyn Cockroft, (703) 836-6767
DEC Program Training Coordinator: Ernie Floegel, (845) 226-8058
Regional Operations Coordinator: Chuck Hayes, ( 503) 585-0055
IACP Highway Safety Committee
The mission of the IACP Highway Safety Committee’s Technical Advisory Panel is to develop, promote, and provide guidance and support for the DEC and Standardized Field Sobriety Testing (SFST) programs.
Technical Advisory Panel (TAP)
Who is on the Technical Advisory Panel (TAP)?
Presently 21 members serve on the TAP: the chair of the Highway Safety Committee, who also chairs the TAP; three IACP staff members who oversee the DEC Program's implementation, expansion and credentialing process; four regional representatives; a POST representative; two representatives from the medical field; a NHTSA staff person; a representative of a police training academy; a prosecutor; a state DRE coordinator; a toxicologist; a police administrator; two at-large positions (one of whom is the chair of the DRE Section and serves for only one year); and a state Highway Safety Office representative. The chair makes all appointments. To ensure continuity of the TAP, one third of the appointed seats are appointed in a given year. A TAP member must be able to attend the Annual TAP Meeting held in conjunction with the IACP annual conference and the TAP Midyear Meeting held in the Spring. Regional representatives must be able to attend the annual regional meetings held within their assigned regions.
The IACP DRE Section
In 1992 the IACP governing body approved the creation of the IACP Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) Section. As the bylaws state, the primary purpose of this section is to serve as a coordinating body among the various DRE associations or chapters within states, to serve as a resource, and to respond to the views and needs of the membership. Drug recognition, a growing profession in law enforcement, has seen great promise as a means of identifying and prosecuting drug-impaired drivers. The IACP DRE Section provides a unique opportunity for those professionals already associated with drug recognition to share common management, training, administrative and practicing concerns.
Section members discuss issues such as their annual training conference, re-certification training ideas, continuing and advanced education, and creative teaching techniques for instructors, product evaluations (pen lights, protective gloves, etc.), certification problems and solutions, and the development and sharing of databases. DREs, the practitioners of drug influence recognition, and program coordinators have an ongoing forum for a discussion of needs and concerns through membership in the DRE Section.
Each year the DRE Section hosts the Annual Training Conference on Drugs, Alcohol, and Impaired Driving. Through its membership, the section has the sole authority for approving the location and agenda of this conference. For dates and locations of future conferences, check the "Events" and "Home" pages of this Web site. Regional meetings are also held each year and presided over by the TAP regional representative and the DRE Section's regional representative (see link below to DRE Section Officers and the "Regional Coordinators" page on this Web site).
In addition to providing its annual training conference, the section, as mandated by its bylaws, prepares and distributes an annual report (accessed by clicking here) on the activities and accomplishments of the International Drug Evaluation and Classification Program. The information included in this report reflects the overview and activities of the DEC programs nationwide and in Canada for the preceding calendar year.