Suffolk County police test roadside saliva kits for drugged driving
Three roadside saliva kits will let Suffolk officers test for marijuana, opioids and other drugs in about five minutes. The pilot starts as Memorial Day traffic spikes.
At a Medford demonstration site, Suffolk County police showed off a roadside saliva test that could change who gets pulled out of traffic, arrested and charged in suspected drugged-driving cases. The pilot uses three SoToxa kits and comes as county officials brace for Memorial Day weekend and the long stretch of dangerous summer driving that follows.
The handheld device is designed to screen oral fluid for marijuana, opioids, cocaine, methamphetamine and opiates in about five minutes. Abbott, the maker of SoToxa, says the system can detect up to six drug classes from a single sample and store more than 10,000 results. County officials said the technology is already used in 23 other jurisdictions, and Suffolk described its rollout as the first deployment of this kind in the region to fight a growing road-safety problem.
The practical effect is that officers now have another tool when a driver appears impaired but alcohol does not explain the stop. Suffolk County Police Commissioner Kevin Catalina said the department faces a legal gap in cannabis cases because there is no legal level of marijuana intoxication or impairment. That leaves police trying to build probable cause with field observations, behavior and, now, a saliva screen that can help document suspected drug use before a crash or arrest decision.
The test can show drug categories in the field, but it does not by itself measure how impaired a person is or how recently a drug was used. That distinction matters in Suffolk, where roadside decisions can ripple into arrests, referrals and later court cases. The civil-liberties questions are just as immediate: a faster screen may help officers act sooner, but it also gives police another basis to justify a stop as drugged driving rather than fatigue, medical issues or some other explanation.
County leaders tied the pilot to a wider traffic crackdown heading into Memorial Day weekend. Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety said AAA expects more than 39 million Americans to travel by car at least 50 miles from home over the holiday period, and driving is expected to account for 87 percent of Memorial Day travel. The National Safety Council says Memorial Day traffic deaths over the last six years averaged 9.7 percent higher than comparable non-holiday periods.
Suffolk is also adding manpower. Officials said nine marine patrol officers will be added immediately, another nine in about a month, and five more on highways. The message from Medford was clear: the county wants a tougher enforcement posture on roads and waterways alike as the summer driving season begins, and drugged-driving stops are about to look different in practice.
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