Strategies to Improve DRE Officers' Performance and Law Enforcement Agencies' DRE Programs

This information collection request (ICR) is to seek approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for a new voluntary information collection that would be part of an agency demonstration project intended to study best practices for implementing strategies to improve Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) programs. DREs are law enforcement officers trained and certified through the International Drug Evaluation and Classification (DEC) program to recognize impairment in drivers under the influence of drugs other than, or in addition to, alcohol. The demonstration project will involve selecting state law enforcement agencies (LEAs) based on an application process and providing resources that will allow the LEAs to implement different strategies for improving their DRE programs. Agencies selected to participate will be provided tools and technologies for collecting data, implementing a call-out system, implementing an electronic warrant system, and/or implementing law enforcement phlebotomy to help support carrying out Drug Influence Evaluations on drivers suspected of drug-impaired driving. NHTSA will then collect information on a monthly and quarterly basis regarding the agencies’ implementation of the strategies. The information collected from the agency application, monthly reporting, and quarterly reporting will inform the development of follow-up evaluation. The follow-up evaluation will include the collection of process measures used during the implementation phase and a questionnaire or discussion group that a subsequent ICR will cover. After the demonstration project is completed, NHTSA intends to publish a report on best practices for implementing the different strategies for improving DRE programs. The report will be developed using information collected from the agency application, monthly reporting, and quarterly reporting, as well as from the planned evaluation questions. Publication of the report will support NHTSA’s mission to reduce deaths and injuries resulting from traffic crashes by allowing NHTSA to provide State and local law enforcement agencies with information to help improve programs intended to address the issue of drug-impaired driving.

The latest form for Strategies to Improve DRE Officers' Performance and Law Enforcement Agencies' DRE Programs expires 2027-03-31 and can be found here.