How we spent our weekend: Becoming "qualified" at spotting drunks

We spent the past weekend down at Litchfield in a three-day qualification class on DWI Detection and Standardized Field Sobriety Testing. The class was great. It was taught by Colonel Robert LaPier (retired-Idaho State Police) and his wife Mauna, who operate LaPier and Associates, an instruction and consulting firm specializing in DWI/DUI and related areas.

Big thanks to Attorney Scott Joye of the Inlet Law Firm in Murrell's Inlet, SC. Scotty had undergone this training up in Nashville and was kind enough to solicit interest in bringing the program down to South Carolina. Once he saw there was an interest, Scotty and his paralegal Alexis High did a great job of setting everything up. Fourteen attorneys and one paralegal for all over the state attended. By the end of day three, we were all hitting pretty damn close on our BAC conclusions based off the tests. Needless to say, everyone came away from the training feeling they had learned a great deal.

The local paper, The Coastal Observer, came out and took some photos which they have published as a slide show on their site. Feel free to check it out.