DRE Flashback: Certification, continued

Certification Progress Log

The development and adoption of the Certification Progress Log itself by the LAPD DRE Unit was a response to a problem.  In the late 1980s the DRE program began to grow rapidly.  As it grew, it was increasingly difficult to determine which candidate DRE was approaching readiness for certification.  For one thing, it was time-consuming for the DRE Unit to research the records, including the number of evaluations, on each candidate. Also, candidate DREs often didn't have a good idea of where their progress toward certification stood. We adopted the philosophy that was being used in the training of LAPD probationary police officers: that the candidate DRE would maintain a log of his/her progress, and that this log would be presented to DRE instructors at each certification event.  Not only did this help the candidate DRE, it helped the instructor to more adequately assess the candidate's progress.

The first Certification Progress Log was printed on an old dot matrix printer!  Remember those?  Over time, as standards developed, the progress log was modified to incorporate these new standards.