News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
McMinnville Police Officer Mark Mara received two awards for his service as a Drug Recognition Expert.
Mara honored at the Annual Tennessee Lifesavers Conference. A Drug Recognition Expert is a officer trained to recognize and evaluate impairment in drivers under the influence of drugs. Mara said these awards were a surprise.
“When I started this, I had no idea I would get that far with doing (evaluations) with people and I think you just have to have the right approach with the suspects that have been arrested,” Mara said.
Mara said he comes in after a DUI arrest is made to do a 12-step evaluation where he spends about an hour with each person. Mara said his intention in these evaluations is to educate and change the behavior of suspects, as this change can save lives.
“I don’t do what I do for recognition or awards, it’s nice to get those but this is not what I do it for,” Mara said. “Um, I actually do it one person at a time trying to make a difference with them.”
Mara received the Drug Recognition Expert Special Award for 500-plus Evaluations, and also the Drug Recognition Expert Service Award Winner for 11 years of Service.
Mara said the right approach is talking to the suspect and to figure out what is going on in their lives that led them to do this, not making them feel worse about the situation as their lives are affected hugely when arrested for a DUI. Mara said these evaluations help people understand what they took and how it affects their abilities.
“They’re extremely important because some people that take prescription medications might not understand that they’re under the influence of drugs or that they’ve mixed those prescription medications with prescriptions that aren’t prescribed to them or illegal drugs as well,” Mara said. “So just getting (them) to understand what they’ve done or what they’ve taken helps out.”
Driving under the influence is illegal, even if the medication in prescribed. According to Tennessee Department of Homeland Safety and Security, 1 in 3 fatal crashes involve a DUI.
