Police departments across Michigan are cracking down when it comes to drivers who are driving while impaired by drugs.

Michigan State Police kicked off the second phase of its Oral Fluid Roadside Analysis Pilot Program Tuesday, which requires motorists suspected of being impaired to submit to a mouth swab to detect the presence of controlled substances.

Multiple police and sheriff's departments statewide are participating, including the Ingham County Sheriff's Office, Battle Creek Police Department, Kent County Sheriff's Office and Grand Rapids Police Department, the agency said in a news release.

The program was established in 2016 by Public Acts 242 and 243, due to Michigan having an increase in fatal crashes involving drug-impaired drivers. There were 236 drug-related traffic fatalities in 2016, with the number rising to 247 in 2018, said MSP.

The pilot originally included Berrien, Delta, Kent, St. Clair and Washtenaw counties. Drug recognition experts — police officers highly trained in identifying drug-impaired drivers, conduct a preliminary oral fluid analysis by swabbing a person's mouth with a test instrument.

The instrument tests for the presence of amphetamines, benzodiazepines, cannabis (delta 9 THC), cocaine, methamphetamines and opiates.

The analysis is then administered, along with the drug recognition 12-step evaluation used by drug recognition experts.

The first phase ended last November and provided data on the performance of the oral fluid test instrument when coupled with observed driver behavior and standardized field sobriety tests. However, the sample size was too small to draw conclusions on the tool's usefulness for law enforcement.

In February, the pilot program committee recommended expanding the pilot for another year to include all experts in the state in order to have more police departments participate.

"This additional, statewide data will help to determine the usefulness of this tool for law enforcement, as we work to get drug-impaired drivers off Michigan’s roads,” said Lt. Col. Richard Arnold, commander of MSP’s Field Operations Bureau. “Roadside oral fluid testing continues to show promise and by expanding this pilot, we’ll have a larger body of results by which to determine the tool’s effectiveness.”

Participating police departments include:

Adrian Township Police Department

Allegan County Sheriff’s Department

Alma Department of Public Safety

Alpena Police Department

Ann Arbor Police Department

Auburn Hills Police Department

Battle Creek Police Department

Bay City Police Department

Bay County Sheriff’s Office

Berrien County Sheriff’s Office

Bloomfield Township Police Department

Cadillac Police Department

Canton Township Police Department

Charlevoix County Sheriff’s Office

Chikaming Township Police Department

Clawson Police Department

Dearborn Police Department

Escanaba Department of Public Safety

Gogebic County Sheriff’s Office

Grand Blanc Township Police Department

Grand Haven Department of Public Safety

Grand Rapids Police Department

Grand Valley State University Police Department

Greenville Department of Public Safety

Hamburg Township Police Department

Imlay City Police Department

Ingham County Sheriff’s Office

Kalkaska County Sheriff’s Department

Kent County Sheriff’s Office

Lake County Sheriff’s Office

Lapeer Police Department

Lincoln Township Police Department

Livonia Police Department

Macomb County Sheriff’s Department

Marquette County Sheriff’s Office

Menominee Police Department

Michigan State Police

Midland Police Department

Monroe Department of Public Safety

Mt. Pleasant Police Department

Muskegon Police Department

Novi Police Department

Oscoda Township Police Department

Petoskey Department of Public Safety

Pokagon Tribal Police

Port Huron Police Department

Roscommon County Sheriff’s Department

Southfield Police Department

St. Clair County Sheriff’s Office

Troy Police Department

University of Michigan Police Department

Washtenaw Co Sheriff’s Office

Wayland Police Department

Western Michigan University Department of Public Service

Ypsilanti Police Department

Ken Palmer contributed to this report.

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