MAPLE GROVE, Minn. — Minnesota law enforcement has a new tool to test if you're impaired behind the wheel.
Starting Friday statewide, officers now have access to an oral swab testing device called SoToxa.
SoToxa tests for drugged driving, including cannabis. Mike Hanson, director of the Office of Traffic Safety, says there's roughly 75 units across Minnesota.
"When we know what's going on on our roads, we can develop the educational strategies and the countermeasures to help drivers make better decisions before they get behind the wheel," Hanson said. "By the time an arrest takes place, or a crash takes place, it's too late. We need drivers to make better decisions before that happens."
This is part of a pilot program, running from now until this fall. Officers with these units will collect data, but those records are not permissible in court and cannot be used for probable cause for arrests during this testing period.
DPS officials say once the pilot program ends, a report is due to legislators. The goal is to expand testing if legislators approve in 2025.
"The intent is to to make sure that these instruments are in the hands of the street officers that maybe don't have that high level of training, like the DRE's (drug recognition evaluators) so that they have another tool to help them determine impairment and help them make that arrest/no arrest decision," Hanson said.
The tools are not inexpensive, Hanson says, running around $5,000 per unit.
Current DRE's, like Officer Jesse Mathwig with Maple Grove police, say this tool is a huge help to the work they do.
"Obviously, our goal is to take impaired drivers off of the roadways. We want to make the roadway safer for everybody," Mathwig said. "It's just a tool."
Also on display was a unit from Dräger, another company testing for drugged driving. Officers will train on that unit at a later date.
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