January 18, 2025

Creston officer completes expert training

Creston Police Department's Officer Patrick Roche recently completed DRE training.

Creston Police Department has added another tool to their arsenal to keep impaired drivers off the road. Officer Patrick Roche, who has been with the department since 2020, recently completed Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) training, a certification program that sees only 120 active DREs in the state of Iowa.

Creston Police Lieutenant Shannon Arends explained the department has met more impaired driving recently. In order to combat this, officers have undergone a number of impairment identification trainings.

“We initially sent our officers to an ARIDE class, which enhances their ability to tell if someone is under the influence of another drug or a combination of drugs and alcohol, but DRE is a step above that,” Arends said.

ARIDE stands for Advanced Roadside Impaired Driving Enforcement. ARIDE was designed as a bridge between the standardized field sobriety test and the DRE program.

DREs are officers who have been specifically trained to conduct an examination on a person to determine if the person is impaired and if so, what from. Through a 12-step process, DREs are able to tell which of seven drug categories a suspect is using.

In order to do this, DREs must go through multiple weeks of training.

“Training was divided into three segments for us. The first segment is two weeks of classroom portion, up in West Des Moines, classroom from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. pretty much every day,” Roche said. “You have to maintain an 80% on all the tests throughout the class, and then you have to get an 80% on the final exam or better to pass, otherwise you’re done with the course.”

Once classroom work is done, trainees go to State Patrol Post One in Des Moines to do some in-state evaluations.

“We did three of them each in Des Moines for those days,” Roche said. “In southwest Iowa, you’re going to see weed and you’re going to see meth and alcohol. You’re not going to see crack cocaine, you’re not going to see heroin, you’re not going to see fentanyl as much.”

To find these other drugs, trainees go to Jacksonville, Florida.

“That’s when you get a majority of your evals,” Roche said. “When you get down to Florida, your first three days are just at the treatment facility doing evals on people. They’re lined up outside the door, waiting for you to get there because a lot of DRE programs across the nation use this treatment facility. They get snacks, they get pop and I think they get paid $10 an eval.”

Iowa DRE trainees are not allowed to get even one of their 12 evaluations wrong.

“Iowa has the standards set that high. I think the national average is nine,” Roche said. “That’s just one extra level of showing expertise and everything because when you go into court, you’re expected to testify as an expert witness.”

After completing all 12 evaluations, Roche was able to come back to Creston to use his new knowledge. He has already put his new knowledge to use in Union County.

Arends said Roche utilizing his training from past certifications is why Roche was chosen to become a DRE.

“Patrick is a very proactive officer,” Arends said. “If you give him training, he tends to put it to use. It just was kind of a no-brainer to go with him.”

With a DRE on the force, Creston PD will no longer have to request help from other counties.

“We have DREs in the area, but they’re a distance away, and sometimes that distance and time causes problems in getting them there logistically. Having someone from our department will be a huge improvement for us,” Arends said. “We’ll be able to save some of the issues we’ve had in the past. Also, for instances like a negligent homicide situation, a DRE is an absolute must.”

Roche and Arends encouraged citizens to be careful when taking alcohol, medications or drugs, whether legal or illegal.

“Try to get a friend to take you home, take turns when you go out, take turns someone being the designated driver,” Arends said. “Introducing alcohol into the body when taking those drugs can intensify the effects of the alcohol and that can cause problems. Then we end up with accidents and we end up with people hurt or worse on the highways.”

Erin Henze

Originally from Wisconsin, Erin is a recent graduate from UW-Stevens Point. Outside of writing, she loves to read and travel.