Or do you have to go to a third party service?

Hospital. I've never heard of any agency drawing their own blood.

quote:

Originally posted by gearhounds:
Hospital. I've never heard of any agency drawing their own blood.

Neither had I. Until now, over in IL:

https://www.wqad.com/article/n...97-9c56-da311485af94

Galesburg officer doubles as phlebotomist for on-site marijuana DUI testing

Patrol officer Allison Buccalo is one of 11 officers in Illinois that are also a trained phlebotomist and is the first woman to graduate from the program.

Author: Madison Conner
Published: 6:53 AM CST March 2, 2020
Updated: 6:53 AM CST March 2, 2020

GALESBURG, Ill. — Flashing lights, license and registration are all routine steps when you get pulled over.

The Galesburg Police have a new skill up their sleeve thanks to the Illinois Law Enforcement Phlebotomy program.

Patrol officer Allison Buccalo is one of 11 officers in Illinois that is also a trained phlebotomist and is the first woman to graduate from the program.

"Before I worked here I worked as an EMT at the local ambulance service so it was a natural fit," said Buccalo. "I'm excited to actually get some blood draws under my belt."

Buccalo is helping pick up the pace of testing drivers who are under the influence.

"The reason they started doing forensic phlebotomy in the state of Illinois was the legalization of cannabis," said Buccalo.

The program started in 2018 at Richland Community College in Decatur.

When testing for marijuana, blood is key to quickly check for THC levels.

"By the time we get back here after we've done the standardized field sobriety test which is what you are used to seeing with the walk and turn and all that we'd ask for the suspect to participate in a chemical test," said Buccalo.

When they needed a chemical test done before, Buccalo and other officers would have to take their suspect to the hospital taking away resources from patients.

"It's set up just like the hospital we got a little phlebotomy chair with a little arm we have the tray and all the supplies," said Buccalo.

Now that they have all of their supplies and a trained officer, the work can be done in house.

"We're not doing anything new by asking for blood we're just streamlining the process by having an officer available to be able to draw the blood," said Buccalo. "It's not a situation where we are going to come to your car side and draw while you're driving."

Galesburg, Il p.d. just started it.

https://www.galesburg.com/news...-of-impaired-drivers

Blood draws are done by the hospital.

Back in the day we used to do simple finger pricks to collect blood drops on a collection card for some DNA evidence purposes, but that was a while ago. Now we do mouth swabs, so no blood involved with DNA collection any more.

we took dwis and DRE to the hospital for blood draws, but any licensed phlebotomist could do them....both of the DRE's we had were licensed and tey took blood for any DRE case we called them on, but they always did them at the hospital-using their rooms for the exam and the same blood kits we used for DWI...

but both DRE's moved on to better departments due to politics of my former employer

We contract a local provider.

MN State Patrol trained DREs can do their own blood draws. Us common herd deputies and cops used the ER.

The hospital then we send the samples to the state lab for results.

Small department so using ER is the most practical solution.

wondering if they draw it at the P.D. and then send it to a lab for determination ?

or is it determined at the station?

wouldn't that take a gas chromatograph spectrometer?

Blood draws are done by either nurse at St. Louis County Jail or a hospital within St. Louis County (St. Louis City hospitals won't honor a blood draw warrant from St. Louis County. St. Louis County hospitals won't honor a blood draw warrant from St. Louis City). Yes, it becomes a factor on DWI auto accidents where suspect driver is transported for treatment. It will depend on WHICH trauma center hospital suspect goes to. At one point we were told that Paramedics could draw blood but most Fire Departments don't want to do it.

quote:

Originally posted by jsbcody:
(St. Louis City hospitals won't honor a blood draw warrant from St. Louis County. St. Louis County hospitals won't honor a blood draw warrant from St. Louis City)

Is that purely political, or is there some other reasoning behind that?

Our local sheriffs call in a Phlebotomist that's on their list. Blood is a drawn at the county jail.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:

quote:

Originally posted by jsbcody:
(St. Louis City hospitals won't honor a blood draw warrant from St. Louis County. St. Louis County hospitals won't honor a blood draw warrant from St. Louis City)

Is that purely political, or is there some other reasoning behind that?

Hospital administration logic. A warrant is suppose to be good for the ENTIRE state but the hospital administrators determined they would only honor a warrant from whatever county they are in.

Yep bendable, blood draws have to be sent off to a lab for analysis.

It had always been the hospitals for most of my career, but since our area became no refusal several years ago now, they started having blood drawn at the jail as well.

Before we were able to book someone into the jail, a ‘nurse’ had to medically screen them. I don’t remember now what level of ‘nurse’ they were, and I think they were contracted by the county rather than employees. Also, not all of these ‘nurses’ were qualified to draw blood for our DWI arrests.

quote:

DRE

^^^^^^
I am not familiar with DRE.I assume you are not referring to digital rectal exam, which is the most common medical acronym. Please explain. Thanks

Hospitals......ain't no way I'm going to draw anyone's blood!

Not that it freaks me out.....but it's not in my job description.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:

quote:

DRE

^^^^^^
I am not familiar with DRE.I assume you are not referring to digital rectal exam, which is the most common medical acronym. Please explain. Thanks

DRE=Drug Recognition Expert, in NC they have specialized training above and beyond what a normal cop gets for recognizing and prosecuting drug cases..including DWI...regular street cops get a little training and can prosecute them, the guy who runs the intoxilizer has more training and the DRE is the apex predator of cop who is an expert witness. He has medical and scientific training and gets more training on court room testimony.

I never saw a DRE case lost. Ever.

^^^^^
Ok thank you.

One of the biggest issues with the legalization of marijuana will be determing who is and is not under the influence. Since there is no proven breath test for marijuana blood draws will frequently be needed. The problem there has to do with how THC is metabolized in the body, and what constitutes impairment. Expect to see many legal challenges in this regard. The issues with ETOH in contrast are pretty clear.