ON-DEMAND: Personal Contact – The Most Overlooked Phase Within the Impaired Driving Investigation

Course Description:

This course examines the Personal Contact phase of the impaired driving investigation and its critical role in developing evidence of impairment before standardized field sobriety testing begins. While many impaired-driving investigations focus heavily on SFST administration, this course demonstrates how the most persuasive evidence often emerges during the officer’s initial contact with the driver.

Participants will learn how to intentionally evaluate the mental and physical faculties required for safe vehicle operation through observation, conversation, divided-attention demands, and purposeful questioning. The course explores the legal and investigative significance of the Personal Contact phase, the development of reasonable and articulable suspicion, the identification of medical conditions and impairing substances, and the collection of evidence that is readily understood by judges and jurors.

Drawing from NHTSA principles, case law, and real-world prosecutorial experience, this course provides practical techniques for transforming routine roadside interactions into structured opportunities for evidence gathering while maintaining professionalism, officer safety, and investigative objectivity. Participants will leave with a framework for recognizing, documenting, and articulating impairment evidence long before a driver exits the vehicle for field sobriety testing.

Course Objectives:

Upon successful completion of this course, participants will be able to:

1. Describe the three phases of the impaired driving investigation and explain the unique purpose and evidentiary value of the Personal Contact phase. 
2. Identify the mental and physical faculties evaluated during roadside encounters, including orientation, memory, attention, perception, judgment, speech, coordination, and dexterity. 
3. Recognize indicators of impairment during initial driver contact through observations of speech, behavior, divided attention, document retrieval, and overall interaction. 
4. Apply questioning strategies designed to evaluate impairment-related faculties while simultaneously gathering investigative information. 
5. Utilize six categories of roadside questioning—orientation, medical condition, substance consumption, subjective effects, multitasking/unusual questions, and recent-event recall—to develop evidence of impairment. 
6. Assess a driver’s ability to divide attention by observing performance during concurrent mental and physical tasks. 
7. Identify and appropriately address potential medical conditions that may mimic or contribute to signs of impairment. 
8. Develop and articulate reasonable and articulable suspicion based upon the totality of circumstances observed during the Personal Contact phase. 
9. Recognize evidence of alcohol, cannabis, prescription medication, and other drug impairment through statements, observations, and behavioral indicators. 
10. Conduct professional follow-up questioning to clarify inconsistencies, evaluate cognitive functioning, and develop additional evidence without creating unnecessary confrontation. 
11. Document and articulate observations effectively in reports and testimony so that evidence gathered during the Personal Contact phase can be clearly understood by prosecutors, judges, and jurors. 
12. Explain how observations made before a driver exits the vehicle contribute to the overall impaired driving investigation and complement, rather than replace, standardized field sobriety testing.