Spotting Impaired Driving
The Impaired Driving Initiatives is continuing its mission to keep Texas road safe by training probation and parole officers how to detect and respond to drug and alcohol impairment among their clientele and their family and friends.
In its 10th year of operations, the program funded by the Texas Department of Transportation, is expanding the number of professionals keeping their eyes peeled for impaired drivers. Over the years, the program has trained law enforcement officers and instructors, school employees, and Texas employers how to spot the abuse of illegal and prescription drugs and alcohol and to stop the impaired from getting behind the wheel.
Probation and parole officers, who handle offenders after they are released back into the community, are the latest deployed in the fight against impaired driving. As of 2011, these officers in Texas were responsible for 107,000 parolees and 413,000 probationers in the state. Thirty percent of parolees and 16 percent of the probationers were convicted on drug-related offenses.
Vol 17 No 29