Massachusetts DWI DUI OUI Field Sobriety Test Police Training Manual

• When the diver walks toward the side of the road, what do I see? 

Phase Three:

• Should I administer field sobriety tests to the driver?

• How does the driver perform those tests?

• What exactly did the driver do wrong when performing the tests?

• Do I have probable cause to arrest for DWI?

• Should I administer a preliminary breath test?

• What are the results of the preliminary breath test?

The most successful DWI detectors are those officers who:

• know what to look and listen for;

• have the skills to ask the right kinds of questions;

• choose and use the right kinds of tests;

• make the correct observations; and

• are motivated and apply their knowledge and skill whenever they contact someone who may be under the influence.

Officers like these are likely to make more arrests and to document the clear, convincing evidence needed to secure convictions.

NOTE TAKING AND TESTIMONY

INTRODUCTION

A basic skill needed for DWI enforcement is the ability to graphically describe your observations. Just as detection is the process of collecting evidence, description largely is the process of conveying evidence. Successful description demands the ability to convey evidence clearly and convincingly. Your challenge is to communicate evidence to people who weren’t there to see, hear and smell the evidence themselves. Your tools are the words that make up your written report and verbal testimony. You must communicate with the supervisor, the prosecutor, the judge, the jury and even with the defense attorney. You are trying to “paint a word picture” for those people, to develop a sharp mental image

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