Evaluation of the Effects of SFST Training on Impaired Driving Enforcement: [Traffic Safety Facts Research Note]

2011
Overall, when the three components of SFST are combined, officers are accurate in detecting drivers with BACs higher than the limit of .08 g/dL in 91% of cases (Stuster & Burns, 1998). Furthermore, officers have found the SFST to be appropriate for field use. In 1986, the Advisory Committee on Highway Safety of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) recommended that law enforcement agencies adopt and implement SFSTs and the associated training program. Since the SFST battery
more » ... s developed in 1981, it has largely replaced the non-validated sobriety tests used by patrol officers to make DWI arrest decisions. Currently, the SFST is used in all 50 States and has become the standard pre-arrest procedures for evaluating DWI in many law enforcement agencies. In addition to the scientific evidence in support of the SFST, extensive operational experience with SFSTs has convinced many law enforcement officers and courts of SFST's diagnostic utility. However, despite NHTSA's support for SFST training, some police agencies do not require their officers to receive SFST training. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the benefits of SFST training on officers in performing DWI-related tasks.
doi:10.21949/1525777 fatcat:2dlflpe25ffttfmy3mp2z3cazm