YORK COUNTY, SC – The York County Sheriff’s Office has two new certified drug recognition experts (DRE). Deputies Christopher Anderson and Arens Marthone graduated March 24, 2023, from the three-week intensive DRE training program. The training was held at the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy in Columbia, SC, for classroom instruction, followed by a week of field evaluations and a final 8-hour written exam in Winston-Salem, NC.
A drug recognition expert is a police officer trained to recognize impairment in drivers under the influence of drugs other than, or in addition to, alcohol. Less than half of 1% of all law enforcement officers have the DRE certification. There are approximately 100 DREs in South Carolina. The three YCSO deputies in the Traffic Enforcement Unit are now certified DREs.
DRE is an international certification by the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) with support from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) of the U.S. Department of Transportation.
