WINONA – The Winona Police Department hosted a Field Sobriety Training at the Winona airport last week, welcoming law enforcement officials from throughout Mississippi.
Field Sobriety is an effective tool that law enforcement use to keep impaired drivers off the road, said Dan Herod, WPD chief investigator.
The class is one of the harder forms of training law enforcement officials attend because Field Sobriety “plays a pretty big role in law enforcement,” Herod said.
“It gives us another tool to use when getting impaired drivers off the road. It gives us another tool in gathering more evidence in a DUI case,” said Herod.
Officials from WPD, Tunica County Sheriff’s Department, Yalobusha County Sheriff’s Department, Grenada Police Department, Greenwood Police Department and Kosciusko Police Department attended the three-day class, according to Herod.
“All of the officers get 24 hours of continuing education hours. All of them completed the classroom part and took their written test,” said Herod.
Rob Banks with the Oxford Police Department led instruction for the training, which was assisted by Tony Dunn with the Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol and Jim Burton with the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department, Herod said.
Molly Miller, Traffic Safety Resource Prosecutor with the Attorney General’s office, updated officers on July 20 about laws that have changed, Herod said.
“You have to have certification training every two years,” he said. “This is not the first time our guys have been certified in it. We did this to recertify everybody.”
He said he, along with WPD Chief Tommy Bibbs and the City of Winona, appreciated Banks’ providing the training in Winona.
“The Winona Police Department intends on hosting other training events for law enforcement officers from throughout the state,” said Herod. “I want to thank Barry Eskridge for allowing us to use the MedStat facility to have the class.”
