Sheriff gets big response after asking for volunteers to "get drunk" on county's dime
Police in eastern Missouri sought community volunteers this week to participate in a hands-on field sobriety training program, which essentially offered free alcohol to members of the public on the local sheriff's office's dime. The training program, called a wet lab, happens annually and asks volunteers to "drink and socialize" for several hours before undergoing a series of field sobriety tests. It aims to help officers identify signs of alcohol impairment and practice determining when, based on their observations, it is appropriate to administer a breath test that calculates a person's blood alcohol level.
Responses to the request for alcohol-drinking volunteers poured in quickly, said the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, which hosted the wet lab for commission personnel including deputies and detectives, and whose jurisdiction includes metropolitan St. Louis, in a series of Facebook posts.
"The Sheriff's Office is looking for alcohol drinkers Tuesday-Thursday this week, and we are buying!" the sheriff's office wrote in its initial post calling for volunteers. It appeared on the office's Facebook page on Sunday, and has since garnered roughly 1,000 likes, nearly as many comments and upwards of 800 shares on the social media platform.
"Seriously, we buy, you drink, and we provide your transportation home (not jail)," the post continued. "The catch? After you drink, officers will be testing you on standardized field sobriety tests. Upon completion of your field sobriety tests, you will then submit a breath sample to determine your level of intoxication."
Officers are required to complete the wet lab training in order to receive their certification for Standardized Field Sobriety Testing, a widely-used screening procedure that asks drivers to perform simple motor function exercises that should reveal whether they are too intoxicated to drive. Missouri adheres to the national standard that stipulates anyone operating a vehicle with a blood alcohol concentration over 0.08% is impaired and can be arrested and charged for driving while intoxicated. Legal blood alcohol limits for minors and drivers of commercial vehicles vary slightly, both nationally and within the state.
"We can provide wine, beer, or liquor. While we will not be providing Pappy Van Winkle, we promise not to serve you cheap wine or rail liquor. We appreciate our volunteers more than that," the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office said Sunday. "You don't have to use our transportation home, but a sober driver must be present before you leave. It's a fun and interesting way to spend an afternoon! Message us for further details."
The sheriff's office said that between nine and 12 people needed to participate in the wet lab over the course of two days — Tuesday and Thursday — and noted that someone who expresses interest in volunteering "should probably be a casual drinker" with "normal balance" and without "standing or walking limitations." Preference would be given to prospective volunteers younger than 65, the office added.
"Boy, oh boy, has it created a lot of buzz," said Grant Bissell, the public safety information coordinator at the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, in a live video shared Monday to the office's Facebook page, after the call for volunteers gained traction online. "Here's the deal. We are inviting people to get drunk at the sheriff's office. But it's all for a really good reason."
Bissell explained that conducting the wet lab training with real people who have been drinking gives officers the chance to learn how to spot dangerous intoxication levels in the most "true-to-life" scenario possible. He also clarified, in response to some of the comments on its Sunday post, that taxpayer dollars don't pay for the training program. The money comes from a separate fund, Bissell said.
Jefferson County, a largely suburban county just south of St. Louis, is home to about 227,000 people. It saw a notable rise in arrests for driving under the influence over the last three years, the sheriff's office said in another Facebook post shared on Tuesday. The county recorded 555 arrests for impaired driving in 2022 — a 55% increase from the 358 arrests made for the same offense in 2020 — according to the sheriff. While annual DWI arrest numbers climbed moderately in Jefferson County in 2021 compared with 2020, they jumped 38% between 2021 and 2022 alone.
