Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the Office of Management and Budget for Review and Approval; Request for Comment; Strategies To Improve Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) Officers' Performance and Law Enforcement Agencies' DRE Programs Publication: Federal Register Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Byline: Nanda Narayanan Srinivasan Date: 3 July 2023 Subject: American Government , Crime

[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 126 (Monday, July 3, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42812-42813]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-13856]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

[Docket No. NHTSA-2022-0032]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the 
Office of Management and Budget for Review and Approval; Request for 
Comment; Strategies To Improve Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) Officers' 
Performance and Law Enforcement Agencies' DRE Programs

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 
Department of Transportation (DOT).

ACTION: Notice and request for comments on a request for approval of a 
new information collection.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), 
this notice announces that the Information Collection Request (ICR) 
summarized below will be submitted to the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) for review and approval. The ICR describes the nature of 
the information collection and its expected burden. This is a new 
information collection to study ways to help improve DRE Officers' 
performance and Law Enforcement DRE programs. A Federal Register notice 
with a 60-day comment period soliciting comments on the following 
information collection was published on August 31, 2022, Docket No. 
NHTSSA-2022-0032. Three sources submitted comments. In general, the 
submitted comments reflected that they were in support of the project's 
efforts. No adjustments were needed to the project plan.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before August 2, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations for the proposed 
information collection, including suggestions for reducing burden, 
should be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget at 
www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. To find this particular information 
collection, select ``Currently under Review--Open for Public Comment'' 
or use the search function.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For additional information or access 
to background documents, contact: Jacqueline Milani, NPD220 (routing 
symbol), (202) 913-3925, National Highway Traffic Safety 
Administration, Enforcement and Justice Services Division, Room number: 
W44-206, U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, 
Washington, DC 20590. Please identify the relevant

[[Page 42813]]

collection of information by referring to its OMB Control Number.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the PRA (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), a 
Federal agency must receive approval from the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) before it collects certain information from the public and 
a person is not required to respond to a collection of information by a 
Federal agency unless the collection displays a valid OMB control 
number. In compliance with these requirements, this notice announces 
that the following information collection request will be submitted 
OMB.
    Title: Strategies to Improve DRE Officers' Performance and Law 
Enforcement Agencies' DRE Programs.
    OMB Control Number: New.
    Form Number: 1662, 1663, 1680.
    Type of Request: New request.
    Type of Review Requested: Regular.
    Length of Approval Requested: Three years from date of approval.
    Summary of the Collection of Information:
     Application information will be collected to enroll Law 
Enforcement Agencies with DRE programs. The application will include 
fields for the agency name, address, point of contact name, email 
address, and phone number. It will request information about existing 
DRE processes and procedures, tools and strategies used, and how the 
agency plans to implement new or enhance existing processes and 
procedures.
     Selected agencies will be required to submit via email, 
monthly reports documenting activities conducted in the reporting month 
and planned for the next month. The monthly reports will also include 
information on equipment/technology received as of the date of the 
report.
     Quarterly reports will be required and will be collected 
through telephone conversations between the selected agencies and the 
support contractor. These calls will serve to discuss what has occurred 
within the past quarter in relation to the project, such as how the 
tools and technologies have been implemented, any challenges faced and 
how they were or will be addressed, any successes to date, and lessons 
learned.
    Description of the Need for the Information and Proposed Use of the 
Information: NHTSA was established by the Highway Safety Act of 1970 
(Pub. L. 91-605, section 202(a), 84 Stat. 1713, 1739-40). Its mission 
is to reduce the number of deaths, injuries, and economic losses 
resulting from motor vehicle crashes on our nation's highways. To 
further this mission, NHTSA conducts research on driver behavior and 
traffic safety to develop efficient and effective means of bringing 
about safety improvements. Impaired driving resulting from cannabis or 
other drug use poses challenges for our nation's law enforcement 
officers, prosecutors, toxicologists, highway safety offices, and 
others. As the number of States legalizing marijuana continues to 
increase, the need for effective strategies to address the growing 
concerns about impaired driving is imperative. Law enforcement agencies 
are eager for strategies to improve their efficiency, consistency, and 
completeness of their DRE programs. This program will play a critical 
role in a State's efforts to reduce impaired driving. This project will 
allow NHTSA to provide participating law enforcement agencies with 
information and resources to improve their DRE officers' performance 
and enforcement programs overall. This collection of information is 
necessary to allow interested enforcement agencies with DRE programs to 
submit an application that shares information about their current DRE 
program. This is a demonstration project. Agency applications will be 
collected and used as baseline data. This information will be compiled 
and used to better understand process outcomes that other law 
enforcement agencies could use to replicate and improve their programs.
    60-Day Notice: A Federal Register notice with a 60-day comment 
period soliciting public comments on the following information 
collection was published on August 31, 2022 (87 FR 53548). Comments 
were received from three sources. Each comment received shared that the 
submitter was in support of the initiative. There are no responses to 
the comments and no changes made to the project's workplan, final 
deliverables, and subsequently no changes to the information collection 
plan. NHTSA acknowledges the support submitted by the three sources as 
follows:
    Comment 1: Objectivity will be enhanced in an effort to eliminate 
human error, methods of automating and standardizing the DRE tests such 
as through the use of standardized instructions, automating the tests 
with technology and other tools, and improving data capture throughout 
the tests to generate a meaningful body of evidence.
    Comment 2: The results of the study will have practical utility.
    Comment 3: Additional training proposed by the NHTSA will assist 
officers in detecting impaired drivers and interacting with them.
    Affected Public: Selected law enforcement agencies with DRE 
programs willing to participate.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: Subject to available funds and 
available time to collect approximately 3-years of participation data.
    Frequency: 1 application to share information about their Law 
Enforcement Agency, monthly reports to share information on process 
measures on how the project is going.
    Number of Responses: Approximately 15 agencies will apply. Each 
will submit 1 application, 36 monthly reports and 12 quarterly calls.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: Total overall Burden Hours 
will be approximately 440 hours.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Cost: The total estimated burden 
hours for each participating agency is 88 hours. Assuming 15 agencies 
respond and are selected, the total estimated burden hours for all 
agencies is 1,320 hours. The estimated total burden hours for any 
agency that submits an application but is not selected is 1 hour. This 
is a 36-month effort, assuming agencies are selected by March 2023 and 
provide monthly reports through March 2026. The average annual burden 
for all agencies is 440 hours or 29.33 hour per respondent.
    Public Comments Invited: You are asked to comment on any aspects of 
this information collection, including (a) whether the proposed 
collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of 
the functions of the agency, including whether the information will 
have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of 
the burden of the proposed collection of information, including the 
validity of the methodology and assumptions used; (c) ways to enhance 
the quality, utility and clarity of the information to be collected; 
and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on 
respondents, including the use of appropriate automated, electronic, 
mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms 
of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic submission of 
responses.
    Authority: The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995; 44 U.S.C. chapter 
35, as amended; 49 CFR 1.49; and DOT Order 1351.29.

    Issued in Washington, DC.
Nanda Narayanan Srinivasan,
Associate Administrator, Research and Program Development.
[FR Doc. 2023-13856 Filed 6-30-23; 8:45 am]
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