Door County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Tina Spaulding is eagerly awaiting her chance to put her training from the Drug Evaluation and Classification Program to use in the courtroom.  Spaulding recently received certification from the Drug Recognition Expert school training at the Milwaukee Police Training Academy.  The training helps law enforcement officers identify the category of drugs that an individual may be under the influence.  Spaulding explains what she experienced in the third week of the four week training program.

Spaulding notes that there are seven categories of drugs and officers will look for pupil size, measure pulse and blood pressure to help identify the drug.  Officers must be DRE certified in order to testify in court to help prosecutors prove that a defendant was impaired.  Spaulding started with the Door County Sheriff’s Department in back in 2004 part-time.  After leaving for positions in Outagamie and Fond du Lac counties she returned to Door County in 2011.   She started working patrol in 2018 after being promoted to sergeant in 2015.

(photo courtesy of Door County Sheriff's Department)