Leadership and Management Coordinator Recognized by IACP

The International Association of Chiefs of Police Drug Evaluation and Classification Program (IACP DECP) has named IPTM's Leadership and Management Section Coordinator, Teresa (Teri) Dioquino, as a 2024 recipient of the Dick Studdard Drug Recognition Expert Emeritus Award.

"It is a pleasure for me to announce the approval by the IACP DRE Section voting members on April 5, 2024, of Captain (Ret.) Teri Dioquino, formerly of the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, for recognition as a recipient of the Dick Studdard Drug Recognition Expert Emeritus Award." said Tim Cornelius, Florida DECP State Coordinator and IPTM's Impaired Driving Enforcement Coordinator.

This recognition is “awarded to a formerly certified DRE who has served the purposes of the DECP with honor and the highest integrity.” It is not given lightly, nor to all former DREs, but is recognition for outstanding and extended contributions to the DEC Program. A DRE is a law enforcement officer that has undergone rigorous and lengthy training to recognize impairment in drivers under the influence of drugs (in addition to alcohol). The IACP coordinates the International Drug Evaluation and Classification (DEC) Program with support from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) of the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Teri currently serves as our Leadership and Management Section Coordinator and has been an Adjunct Instructor with IPTM since 1992. Her important work in the impaired driving enforcement field is known to many. She was Project Manager for the 1998 Florida Validation Study of the Standardized Field Sobriety Test (SFST) Battery that added immense support for the use of the current SFSTs across the globe.

Her work on this project, that is still taught today by our SFST Instructors, demonstrated that properly trained officers were correct in their arrest and no arrest decisions, at 95% and 82%, respectively. This study built on the previous studies in the late 1990s that further re-enforce that the tests used today are accurate in allowing properly trained officers to discriminate between those drivers who are impaired and those who are not, thus protecting the rights of those who are not impaired.

Teri has been a leader in impaired driving enforcement and traffic safety and has participated at many other levels including NHTSA/IACP Standardized Field Sobriety Test Curriculum revisions, the National DRE Data System (NDDS), and has presented on many traffic safety topics nationally. She is a long serving member of the IACP DRE Section.

Teri will be presented with her award at the 2024 IACP Impaired Driving and Traffic Safety (IDTS) Conference in Washington, DC in August. Please join us in congratulating Teri for this outstanding achievement and recognition!