Maryland Department of State Police Captain Robert G. Smolek, Commander of the Central Troop of the State Police Barracks, was invited to The Summit School on Tuesday, March 5, 2013 to talk to current seventh graders about standardized field sobriety tests.
As part of the Life Science curriculum, Summit students are learning about Body Systems. Specifically, a classroom role-playing challenge assignment has the students learning about human body systems and how they are affected, both physically and mentally, by alcohol.
Captain Smolek talked with the students about what officers do when alcohol or other drug use is suspected and what tests they administer. With the help of student volunteers, he demonstrated the one-leg stand, the “walk and turn” and the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus test used out in the field by the Maryland Department of State Police and explained why these standardized tests work.