In Pennsylvania, the unthinkable just happened!

Just check this out; the request by Kutztown Police Department for volunteers that can get hammered for police training purposes has generated the expected enthusiastic response. The police department in Pennsylvania put an ad on Facebook on Wednesday, January 16, 2019, seeking three volunteers to consume hard liquor to the point of drunkenness.

In less than a day, the ad had elicited hundreds of responses as well as more than a thousand shares on the social media platform. The simple 142-word post requested for adults in good health, of between the ages of 25 and 40, and with no history of both alcohol and drug abuse. Also, the post required the volunteers to have a clean criminal history.

The Kutztown Police Department had to amend the post only hours later, stating that they appreciated the overwhelming support, and had filled up the three slots for the training session slated for April 4, 2019.

According to the ad, the volunteers should have a sober party that will look after and control and probably drive them home after the training. The PD will use the April training to instruct its rookie officers on the administration of field sobriety tests at traffic stops.

The ad stated that alcohol will be provided, but volunteers will not get any monetary reward.

If the training comes to pass, then the Kutztown Police Department will go down in history as the first law enforcement agency to successfully undertake the notorious motor skill impairment test training using human specimens.

The standardized test includes among other things, the police ordering their suspects to follow moving objects, and walk at least nine steps in a straight line in heel-to-doe style. In some instances, the police also make suspects stand on one foot with the other raised about half a foot above the ground.

Controversy and mixed reactions

While the response was enthusiastic, there was a good number as well that stirred controversy in boldly sarcastic ways. Also, a few spoke of the Berks County community’s indignation in the manner the police plan to undertake the exercise.

One respondent, for instance, questioned why the PD needed only three volunteers. While contesting the accuracy of the field sobriety tests, the respondent posited that different individuals display different responses to the test that such reactions often bring to question their level of intoxication, or none of it for that matter.

The said respondent suggested that the police enlist more volunteers to expose the officers to a broader range of possibilities the officers are a lot likely to encounter. “In anything,” the respondent continued, “the effectiveness, as well as the accuracy of the field sobriety tests, have been questioned by scientific research.”

Another lady even suggested that the police department was being unfair by discriminating against people who are 40 years and over. She wrote that “All drunks matter.” And, yet another respondent got a little hilarious suggesting that since Kutztown is a University town where every resident is drunk.

The respondent who stole the show, however, is the resident who asked if participation in the field sobriety test can be taken in place of his community service expectations.