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Personal Contact
This is considered phase II of the process and like phases I, vehicle in motion, and phase III, pre-arrest screening, comprises two major evidence gathering tasks and one decision. The first task is that the officer will approach, observe and interview the driver while still in the vehicle in order to note any face–to–face evidence of impairment. Sometimes the officer will give the driver some pre exit testing such as counting forwards and backwards, reciting the ABC’s or some type of manual dexterity test.
The first thing that the officer is trained to do is to use his eyesight in order to observe the driver and to determine whether or not there is evidence of alcohol and/or other drug influence. The officer is trained to look at your eyes to see if they are bloodshot, determine if you have soiled clothing, fumbling fingers, any alcohol containers in the car, drug or drug paraphernalia in the car, bruises, bumps or scratches on the driver’s body or any other unusual actions.
The officer will also use his hearing during the interview process to determine if your speech is slurred, you admit to dinking, give inconsistent responses, use abusive language or make unusual statements.
The officer is also trained to determine whether or not he smells anything that would be describable as clues or evidence of alcohol and/or other drug influence. Typically these include: alcoholic beverages; marijuana; “cover up” odors like breath sprays; unusual odors.
The basic purpose to the face–to–face observation and interview of the driver is to identify and gather evidence of alcohol and/or other drug influence. This is the purpose of each task in each phase of DUI detection. It is not necessary to gather sufficient evidence to arrest the driver immediately for DUI.
There are a number of techniques the officer uses while the driver is still behind the wheel. Most of these techniques apply the concept of divided attention. They require the driver to concentrate on two or more things at the same time and include both questioning techniques and psychophysical (mind/body) tasks.
The questioning techniques are really designed to trip you up. You will notice that when a police officer comes up to your driver side window and starts talking to you he is constantly talking, asking you questions, being very demanding and throwing so many things at you that it is hard for any person, drunk or sober, to answer the questions in a concise and cohesive method. The police officer’s questioning is purposeful and not just to make conversation. For instance, he may be asking for two things simultaneously. Or while you are looking for your license, registration, or insurance card he is asking you questions to see whether or not you can look for these items and answer his questions at the same time. These may also be considered interrupting or distracting questions. He may also ask you unusual questions. He asks an unusual questions such as “what is your middle name?”.
He may ask you to recite the alphabet beginning with a letter other than A and stopping at letter other than Z. He may also ask you to count down. This technique requires you to count out loud fifteen or more numbers in reverse sequence. Finally he may ask you to do a finger count. In this technique you are asked to touch the tip of your thumb in turn to the tip of each finger on the same hand while simultaneously counting up 1, 2, 3, 4; then to reverse the direction on the fingers while simultaneously counting down 4, 3, 2, 1.
After the police officer has gone through all of this he then makes a decision as to whether or not he wants you to exit the vehicle. When you exit the vehicle he will be watching you get out and walk from the vehicle and your actions or behavior during the exit sequence, which may provide important evidence of impairment. He is trained to determine whether or not you show angry or unusual reactions; cannot follow instruction; cannot open the door; leave the vehicle in gear; “climbs” out of the vehicle; leans against the vehicle; or whether or not you keep your hands on the vehicle for balance.
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