Last week, 26 officers from 18 law enforcement agencies across the state graduated from the University of Maryland’s DUI Institute, a rigorous 40-hour program that develops leaders in the enforcement of alcohol-impaired driving laws.
The award-winning program, created in 2003, was developed by the Maryland Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Administration’s (MVA) Highway Safety Office, the University of Maryland Department of Behavioral and Community Health along with police officers from across the state and national experts in DUI enforcement. Since its inception, nearly 500 officers have graduated from the program.
The following agencies had graduates of this year’s DUI Institute, which was held June 3-7:
- Baltimore County Police Department
- La Plata Police Department
- Bladensburg Police Department
- Maryland State Police
- Calvert County Sheriff’s Office
- Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office
- City of Glenarden Police Department
- Montgomery County Police Department
- Cumberland Police Department
- Ocean City Police Department
- Elkton Police Department
- Perryville Police Department
- Frederick County Sheriff’s Office
- Princess Anne Police Department
- Garrett County Sheriff’s Office
- Washington County Sheriff’s Office
- Kent County Sheriff’s Office
- Wicomico County Sheriff’s Office
“We commend the institute’s graduates on their dedication to highway safety and their determination to continue learning to improve the safety on our roadways,” said MDOT MVA Administrator Chrissy Nizer, who also serves as Governor Wes Moore’s Highway Safety Representative. “The Maryland Highway Safety Office strives to provide additional training and valuable resources, like the DUI Institute, to law enforcement officers statewide.”
DUI Institute participants learned the latest information on the effectiveness of impaired driving countermeasures including ignition interlocks, DUI courts and sobriety checkpoints, police traffic management, the physiology of alcohol and cannabis and its abuse/addiction, and courtroom testimony. Officers also received advanced training in conducting Standardized Field Sobriety Testing and practiced these techniques with volunteers.
The DUI Institute is sponsored by the MDOT MVA’s Highway Safety Office and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
