Today there are approximately 4,000 DRE's certified nationwide with approximately 2,000 in the State of California representing various municipal police, county sheriff, state and federal agencies. A majority of the Pleasanton Police Department's officers are trained and certified as DRE's by the International Association of Chief's of Police (I.A.C.P.). As a certified DRE, a patrol officer is more likely to detect individuals involved in the use, sale, or transportation of illegal drugs. Our commitment to the DRE program is another way the Pleasanton Police Department trains and utilizes its officers to fight crime and protect the community.

The Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) program was developed in the 1970's by traffic enforcement officers of the Los Angeles Police Department. The program trains police officers to use a systematic process to determine whether or not a person is under the influence of drugs and to determine the type of drug or drugs being used. Although the primary focus of the DRE procedure was initially driving under the influence (DUI) enforcement, the procedures have been adapted to Health and Safety Code violations, probation, parole, drugs in the workplace issues, and other areas where accurately identifying the drug-impaired individual is relevant.

The accuracy of the procedure used by DREs has been validated in two controlled studies. One by researchers at Johns Hopkins University and a Field Validation Study sponsored by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The success of these studies has precipitated the dissemination of DRE techniques to 32 states plus the District of Columbia. In addition, officers in Canada, Australia, Norway, Germany and Sweden have been successful in adapting DRE skills to their jurisdictions.