WHEREAS, it is a known fact that impaired drivers are a leading cause of highway crashes, causing loss of life and personal injury; and

WHEREAS, due to the effort of law enforcement officers nationwide, the incidence of impaired drivers has markedly decreased; and

WHEREAS, as a result of enforcement action and training of the nation’s law enforcement officers in impaired driver detection efforts, untold lives have been saved and injuries prevented; and

WHEREAS, the Standardized Field Sobriety Test (SFST) is the probable cause standard used to arrest impaired drivers; and WHEREAS, the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus (HGN) test is an integral part of the SFST; and

WHEREAS, the HGN Test has an accuracy rate of 92%; and WHEREAS, the HGN Test is supported by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and professionals in the field of optometry; and

WHEREAS, the courts of eleven states have ruled the HGN Test inadmissible without accompanying testimony from a medical expert; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, that the International Association of Chiefs of Police, duly assembled at its 105th annual conference in Salt Lake City, Utah, supports without qualification the position that the HGN Test has gained general acceptance within the scientific community when used to qualify the presence of alcohol or drugs: That HGN is reliable when administered correctly by a properly trained police officer; and can be admitted as evidence, without additional expert testimony in a court of law after confronting and individual based upon probable cause and after administering additional field tests to determine intoxication; and be it

FURTHER RESOLVED, that NHTSA be encouraged to establish the scientific basis for HGN in those states that currently do not recognize properly trained police officers as qualified to present HGN as evidence.