Colin Bonus, William Proetta, and myself attended a four day standardized field sobriety test (“SFST”) instructor course in Atlanta, Georgia, on September 23 -26. The objective of the seminar was to provide us with the skill and know how to instruct lawyers and police officers on how to properly administer and interpret SFST tests. I have been thoroughly impressed by the experience of our DWI Field Sobriety Instructor Anthony Palacios. He obviously possesses far more knowledge in this area than anyone I had the occasion of coming in contact with previously. We also had the opportunity to meet gifted drunk driving lawyers from states like Mississippi, South Carolina, Louisana, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Georgia.
One of the Atlanta DUI Lawyers I met at the course was Doug Chanco. It was nice to speak to Doug as he had a wealth of knowledge in Georgia DUI defense. It was interesting to learn about the different issues involved in defending cases in his Altanta Practice, especially those involving jury trials (unlike New Jersey where we have no juries).
It was fortunate that three members of our defense team were previously SFST certified and eligible to complete the course. The three of us are now instructors in SFST which will allow us to train and certify police officers and attorneys in SFST. I believe there are only five (5) NJ DWI Lawyers who have this expertise level in the state and three of them are at our office. I believe that the enhanced skills we gained at the course will prove beneficial to our clients in the future.