In the not too distant future, if you are arrested on the suspicion of driving drunk, you could have your blood drawn by a police officer to check your blood-alcohol level.
The state Department of Transportation’s Highway Safety Office is teaming with Hartford HealthCare’s Emergency Medical Services Network to train police officers as phlebotomists, the technical term for medical professionals who draw blood.
The collaboration, funded by a grant from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), was announced in a report posted Tuesday on Hartford HealthCare’s website.
The program will begin with training eight officers, including four state troopers and four municipal officers, according to the report.
The two-week, 80-hour course will train officers in how to draw blood, submit it for testing, and report the results. Officers who complete the program will be certified as phlebotomists, Hartford HealthCare said.
According to the NHTSA website, in 2021 a total of 13,384 people died in alcohol-impaired driving traffic deaths, up 14% from 2020.
The agency has posted on its website the “Law Enforcement Phlebotomy Toolkit,” a 66-page guide published in March 2019 that explains the program and the legal basis supporting it.
“All States have ‘implied consent’ laws, which mean a licensed driver has consented to blood alcohol concentration (BAC) or drug testing when driving, by virtue of having a driver’s license,” the guide states. “Despite this type of driver licensing law and resulting legal consequences, drivers may still refuse to provide a breath, blood, urine or saliva sample for breath alcohol concentration (BrAC) or drug testing.”
It notes that when a driver refuses to consent to providing a body fluid sample, an officer can obtain a warrant to have blood drawn for testing, but that can be a time-consuming process.
The phlebotomy program “allows law enforcement officers with specialized training to draw blood for investigative purposes,” the guide states. “While a warrant is still required to draw blood in most cases, such a program eliminates the need for a suspect to be transported to a hospital or other facility to obtain a blood sample.”
At least 10 states already participate in the program — Arizona, which was the first to implement it in 1995, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Utah and Washington.
Connecticut joins that group due to the efforts of Keven McNeill, the DOT’s law enforcement liaison since May 2023.
“Our job is to protect the traveling public and keep people safe,” he said in the Hartford HealthCare report. “We want to give officers everything they need to be able to do their job and reduce fatalities. This is another tool we can give them.”
Damian Rickard, director of American Professional Educational Services, which is part of HHC’s Emergency Medical Services Network, said the two-week training program is the same one the health system uses to train people as phlebotomists.
The course includes real-life training, Rickard said, and when completed each graduate will have done a minimum of 100 successful needle sticks, called venipunctures.
Officers will also learn basic anatomy, infection control, specimen collection, the laws that govern blood-taking, how the state lab testing works, proper storage and record keeping, and how to write the related reports, Rickard said.
The program will be held in Norwich and can accommodate a maximum of eight officers. Rickard said there is already a waiting list with enough officers for 30 additional sessions.
Hartford HealthCare is the only authorized instructor for the police-training program.
“We’re very excited to partner with Hartford HealthCare,” McNeill said. “We look forward to growing this program.”
