|
 |
News@WSLH
Your
Source For News & Events From Wisconsin's Public Health
and Environmental Laboratory |
 |
|
| |
WSLH Joins
International Partnership of Science and Law Through ROSITA2 Project
 Working
together with European researchers and law enforcement officials
on two continents, the WSLH’s Forensic
Toxicology program has established Wisconsin as an American
site for the ROSITA2 project.
ROSITA, or Roadside Testing
Assessment, is designed to test devices that detect
drugs in oral fluid for roadside use by law enforcement officers.
Laura Liddicoat, the WSLH Forensic Toxicology Program Supervisor,
felt that Wisconsin and the WSLH would be a good fit as a US site
for the second round of this international drugged-driving project.
“The overall goal is to provide officers with another tool
to detect drugged drivers at the roadside,” Liddicoat said.
“Officers often see an impaired driver, with little or no
alcohol present, but don’t have that extra training or ability
to connect the impairment to drugs other than alcohol. This gives
them an easy-to-use tool right there in the field.”
After attending the Society
of Forensic Toxicology’s (SOFT) national meeting in 2003,
Liddicoat volunteered to be an American coordinator due to the ongoing
successful partnership of the WSLH and Wisconsin’s law enforcement
departments.
Sponsored by the European Commission abroad and the White
House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), the National
Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) here in the United
States, Wisconsin joins Washington, two Florida counties and Salt
Lake City, Utah, as domestic sites.
Wisconsin has six sub-sites throughout the state: Dodge County,
Green Bay/DePere, La Crosse, Manitowoc/Two Rivers, Waukesha and
Wausau. Within these areas, approximately 12 law enforcement agencies
and 47 officers or Drug Recognition Experts are participating with
Liddicoat in the project.
Each site requires 500 subjects over two nine-month periods with
both oral fluid specimens using the test devices and urine and/or
blood specimens from each subject to verify the accuracy of the
oral fluid device. However, compared to their European counterparts,
American law enforcement officers face a tougher challenge finding
willing subjects.
European officers can set up roadblocks to catch suspected drugged
drivers and do not require consent from possible subjects. In comparison,
US officers must receive consent from their subjects, which often
proves difficult when your subject is likely uncooperative and possibly
facing arrest.
Despite the challenges, Liddicoat credits the Laboratory’s
involvement in the ROSITA2 program for opening new doors to the
WSLH.
Working with Dr. Alain Verstraete, the EU coordinator from Ghent
University in Belgium, and Dr. Michael Walsh, the US coordinator
from the ONDCP, the WSLH has earned greater recognition for its
work in forensic toxicology both nationally and internationally.
Her work as coordinator has earned Liddicoat an opportunity to speak
at this year’s SOFT conference.
Here at home, the WSLH is continuing to build more successful partnerships
with local law enforcement agencies around our state as science
and law partner together to address drugged driving on our roadways.
Written By:
Jessica D. Burda,
WSLH Communications Specialist
Date:
WSLH
2004 Annual Report
Related Stories:
Return
To WSLH News & Events
|
