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Sober research
no;
Researcher seeks alternative to field sobriety tests
By Kyle Ross
THE BATTALION
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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
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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
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2003 Aggieland