FORT HUACHUCA, Ariz. – Four Soldiers from the 18th Military Police Detachment are now certified in Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus (HGN) after attending a three-day course conducted by the Sierra Vista Police Department.
The three-day course was held June 7-9 at the Sierra Vista Police Department and brought officers together from multiple agencies, including the 18th Military Police Detachment, Sierra Vista Police Department, Cochise County Sheriff’s Office and Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office.
“Learning from the other agencies as a military police officer is one of the best things for us,” said Staff Sgt. Jesus Medina. “They deal with more cases and do it every day. We deal with things every now and then, so when it’s something we don’t deal with often, we have to develop and learn new skills.”
The course began by providing an introductory overview of what the students would learn over the next three days. The students studied case law, what clues to look for when a person is suspected of drunk driving, and how to build enough probable cause to confirm their suspicions.
They went over the three phases that lead up to a drunk driving arrest. Those phases include witnessing the vehicle in motion, personal contact and the pre-arrest screening. The first day concluded with an overview of the concepts and principals of the Standardized Field Sobriety Tests
The three tests that make up the Standardized Field Sobriety Testing are the one-leg-stand, walk-and-turn and HGN.
In the one-leg-stand, officers have the suspect balance on one leg and count out loud while the officer pays attention to their balance and ability to follow instructions. The walk-and-turn has the suspect walk nine steps heel to toe in a straight line, followed by a turn on the line and then nine heel-to-toe steps back.
In the HGN test, officers move an object before the suspect's eyes to determine the degree to which the suspect's eyes can smoothly follow the object, to assess jerkiness of the eyes when held at maximum side deviation and to determine the point at which eye jerking begins.
“We had to learn how to build a case to support our suspicion that the subject was drunk driving,” Medina said. “We practiced the walk-and-turn and the one-leg-stand, but the main focus of the course was on HGN.”
On the second day, students continued to practice HGN, listened to presentations and participated in dry labs where they wore Oculus lenses with a screen projection of an officer doing the HGN test on a suspect while paying attention to the clues displayed by the suspect.
The third day was preparing for the final in-person testing of suspects. They took a few exams and then heard from Kristina Guerrero, attorney-at-law, who explained the laws giving military police the confidence to perform their duties.
The day concluded with the officers performing HGN tests on volunteers who consumed alcohol and were at various levels of drunkenness.
“Talking to the [attorney] gave me 100% confidence in doing my job,” Medina said. “She thoroughly explained the laws and hearing it from someone who prosecutes cases was something that was beneficial for me in doing my job.”
Following the course, the Soldiers walked away with new knowledge that will help them as they advance in their careers and provided them with skills that can help them when they ultimately separate from the Army and potentially pursue a career in law enforcement. It also provided them the opportunity to network with local law enforcement officers.
“Any knowledge is good knowledge,” said Capt. Traci Beri, commander of the 18th Military Police Detachment. “This is something that’s a national certification so they can take this certification to another state if they choose to get out of the Army and carryover to the civilian side. I love to give our Soldiers as many [training] opportunities as I can.”
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Fort Huachuca is home to the U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence, the U.S. Army Network Enterprise Technology Command/9th Army Signal Command and more than 48 supported tenants representing a diverse, multiservice population. Our unique environment encompasses 946 square miles of restricted airspace and 2,500 square miles of protected electronic ranges, key components to the national defense mission.
Located in Cochise County, in southeast Arizona, about 15 miles north of the border with Mexico, Fort Huachuca is an Army installation with a rich frontier history. Established in 1877, the Fort was declared a national landmark in 1976.
We are the Army’s Home. Learn more at https://home.army.mil/huachuca/.
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