Massachusetts DWI DUI OUI Field Sobriety Test Police Training Manual

PERSONAL CONTACT

OVERVIEW

DWI Detection Phase Two: Personal Contact, like Phases One and Three, corn- pikes two major evidence gathering tasks and one major decision. Your first task is to approach, observe and interview the driver while they are still in the vehicle to note any face-to-face evidence of impairment. Daring this face-to- face contact you may administer some simple pre-exit sobriety tests to gain additional information to evaluate whether or not the driver is impaired. After this evaluation, you must decide whether to request the driver to exit the vehicle for further field sobriety testing In some jurisdictions departmental policy may dictate that all drivers stopped on suspicion of DWI be instructed to exit. It is important to note that by instructing the driver to exit the vehicle, you still are not committed to an arrest; this is simply another step in the DWI detection process. Once you have requested the driver to exit the vehicle, your second task is to observe the manner in which the driver exits to note any additional evidence of impairment.

NOTE: You may initiate Phase Two without Phase One. This may occur, for example, at a roadblock, or when you have responded to the scene of a crash.

TASK ONE

The first task of Phase Two, observation and interview of the driver, begins as soon as the suspect vehicle and the patrol vehicle have come to complete stops. It continues through your approach to the suspect vehicle and involves all conversation between you and the driver prior to the driver’s exit from the vehicle.

PHASE TWO:
Personal Contact

SHOULD THE
DRIVER EXIT?

Previous | Next

---

BACK TO MASSACHUSETTS OUI DEFENSE INFORMATION