Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 30, 2003)
AGGIEL1 I HE HAITAIjf jund on “Cheers," as| anks, Kon Artis,] all have solid verses Die One Day,” will trticularly violent ot issues. 1 got no rples’) minds. Isht es’) vibes. Everybol) 'e) lives.” ) to listen to ’ome Down” and"Ls I out a solid Scil Tech The Battalion /e for anyone u i fan. just don’t expj it when you’re tiomei Sober research no; Researcher seeks alternative to field sobriety tests By Kyle Ross THE BATTALION my ears are blei yom hard drive sp iend's copy ugh, buy your ovu it, tell a friend Texas A&M researchers are developing technol- igy that could help the work of law enforcement lecome more dependable. Jay Porter, associate professor for the eorge Deuisi j e p artment 0 j- Engineering Technology and ndustrial Distribution, is spearheading work done on a new, more reliable sobriety field £st. Porter’s goal is to eliminate dependence on senses by introducing an electronic test to fcplace current field sobriety tests and eliminate man error. In 1977, the Southern California Research Istitute conducted studies on the consistency and iccuracy of field sobriety testing. This research. Sponsored by The National Highway Traffic Safety Jdministration, consisted of 238 drinking subjects and 10 police officers. t The study found that current sobriety tests given law enforcement were reliable and could be used as evidence during trial. The federal govern ment and, for the most part, society as a whole embraced the results. But the trust the public has placed in the accuracy of field sobriety tests may not be completely warranted. Sobriety tests, as they stand, have inherent dis crepancies. Despite efforts to regulate testing by standardizing the tests under the rules of the Standardized Field Sobriety Test, one flaw in the tests could not be remedied — human observation. “Current field tests require the officer to make jodgment calls based on the performance (or phys ical or emotional state) of the suspect,” Porter said. “While the tests are generally videotaped, it can still be difficult for an officer on the stand to recall exactly what he was thinking and what transpired the night of a particular arrest.” Despite the thumbs-up given by the NHTSA, error was discovered in the 1977 studies. The 10 police officers arrested 101 people. Of these arrests, an alarming 47 subjects were non-deserv ing; that is, none exhibited a blood alcohol level higher then .099 percent. These results forced the family Forms in town •median Drew Caret in base in Sc ing the show lot tte amaged palace, eds of soldiers fti r more than an Ik addam’s mainTi <s, Carey showed up jflage uniform. II you that we appte )ort you completely,' Drew Carey Show,' onal comedy shot NHTSA to grant further research. In 1981 a second study, essentially a repeat of the 1977 study, was conducted with a few changes in place. The study would only focus on three methods of field sobriety testing believed to be the most reliable. More than 250 people were subjected to “the walk and turn," the “one leg stand” and the “horizontal gaze” tests. The NHTSA reported 118 arrests. But again the results led to con cern among the law enforcement community: 32 percent of the arrests were incorrect. Furthering this inconsisten cy, 21 people arrested had no alcohol in their system. College Station Police Department Lt. Mark Lang we II says he is comfortable with the ability of trained police officers to detect intoxicated drivers. “While I admit some are better than oth ers, our guys are all trained and certified to give these tests,” Langwell said. “Our officers get to be pretty good at distinguishing drunk drivers. The tests given have been tested for 30 years, they're standardized and we feel secure in that.” Langwell may appreciate current sobriety testing, but lawyers across the state are making small fortunes by disqualifying on-the-scene evidence in court. Their premise is usually the same — police officers are being asked to make an opinionated arrest based on the interpretation of inconsis tent and subjective tests. Through his research, Porter said he hopes to bring a reliable sobriety test to law enforcement. His tester is based on a computer algorithm. Similar to a video game, drivers would be asked to execute various tasks on a keyboard or touch screen to demonstrate their level of response. “The system administers both memory and physical dexterity tests and records results such as number of mistakes, timing and dexterity informa tion,” Porter said. “This information can then be objec tively analyzed to determine the likeli hood of physical impairment.” Among the tasks are a seven-digit recall and a “gopher game.” Similar to the chil dren's game, when an icon appears on the screen the suspect is to hit it. The game records successes, misses and false hits. It also monitors reac tion time and accuracy. The computer pro gram calculates intoxica tion levels, removing the aspect of human observa tion from the testing. Additionally, the tester records identity through a mobile fingerprint unit, a mobile camera and a mag netic stripe reader, Porter said. Early testing of this technology has been prom ising, but the results were somewhat skewed due to the ability of the individual to learn the game. “We are currently revising the tests to solve this problem,” Porter said. “Discussions with state law enforcement officials have indicated that they are interested in the tech nology if it can be refined.” Page 5 • Tuesday, September 30, 2003 U.S. alleges fraud in suit against Medco Seth Freeman • THE BATTALION By David B. Caruso THE ASSOCIATED PRESS PHILADELPHIA — Federal prosecutors accused the nation’s biggest pharmacy benefit-manage ment company Monday of defrauding clients by destroying prescriptions, switching patients’ medications with out their consent and giving favorable treatment to drug companies that paid hefty rebates. A lawsuit filed in Philadelphia accuses Medco Health Solutions of altering prescription records to avoid paying late penalties in its mail-order business and steering customers to drugs made by its former parent com pany, Merck, instead of competitors’ less-expensive products. Medco officials immediately called the charges either false or overstated. “The full story will show that our people are highly skilled, our poli cies are rigorously enforced and our pharmacy practices, which are regu larly inspected by state boards of pharmacy, lead our industry in lower ing the cost of providing high-quality health care for millions of Americans,” the company’s chair man, president and CEO, David Snow, said in a statement. The company acknowledged that some violations cited in the complaint occurred, but said they were isolated incidents that happened years ago and have since been corrected. Pharmacy benefit-management companies use bulk-purchasing power to lower drug costs. FA1E 003 ft's time tv get your copy. P ICKING UP your 2003 Aggielandyearbook is easy. If you ordered a book, look for the dis tribution table in front of the Reed McDonald Building. (Go to the Reed McDonald basement in case of inclement weather.) Please bring your Student ID. If you did not order last year's Texas A&M University yearbook (the 2002-2003 school year), you may purchase one for $40 plus tax in Room 015 Reed McDonald. Hours: 9 a.m.- 4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday. Cash, check, VISA, MasterCard, Discover and American Express, Aggie Bucks accepted. 2003 Aggieland