O'Hara police sergeant honored as 'Top Gun' DUI expert

Ben Wolfson doesn’t claim to be a maverick, nor is he nicknamed Ice Man.

But he is a Top Gun.

The O’Hara police sergeant is a two-time Pennsylvania DUI Association Top Gun Award winner for his efforts as a drug recognition expert.

Officers are nominated for outstanding contributions or for going above and beyond in the area of DUI enforcement in Pennsylvania.

“It’s never about the recognition, but it feels good to know that we’re taking those strides to get those drivers off the road,” Wolfson said. “To get those people into the system to maybe keep them from doing it again. That’s what feels good. That’s what it’s about.

”It’s not just about doing as many (arrests) as you can. It’s about, what does it mean? My family drives these roads. Your family drives these roads, and I want them to be the safest they can be.”

The award has been given out for 25 years. Between 30 and 60 officers are recognized each year. Some are for making the most DUI arrests.

Drug recognition experts are recognized based on how many evaluations they complete.

Wolfson was nominated for his recent award by Dave Andrascik, drug evaluation and classification program coordinator for the association, for conducting 51 drug influence evaluations in 2021.

“Only 11 DREs in the world conducted more evaluations in 2021,” Andrascik said. “Wolfson is a committed officer to impaired driving enforcement. He has also been a certified DRE since 2019 and recently became a certified DRE instructor in 2022.”

Wolfson, 45, has been in law enforcement for 25 years. He worked in Aspinwall, Blawnox and Sharpsburg before joining O’Hara in 2016.

The 1996 Fox Chapel Area High School graduate studied criminal justice at La Roche College, now called La Roche University, and became township police sergeant in 2019.

O’Hara police Superintendent Jay Davis commended Wolfson for his dedication to law enforcement, continued training and education.

“We’re extremely proud of Ben,” he said. “Not only myself, but the township manager (and) township council (are) extremely proud of him. He has demonstrated nothing but the highest level of professionalism. … (The award) is an absolute testament to his commitment to law enforcement. I can’t say enough about that.”

Wolfson is one of about 220 drug recognition experts in the state. They are usually called upon when an officer stops someone and suspects a person to be under the influence of something other than alcohol.

“We come in and we do an evaluation on the subject, and we make a determination on if they are impaired, what they may be impaired on or if the condition is a medical condition that mimics impairment,” Wolfson said.

DRE certification takes nearly two months of training and an intense final exam that could take eight hours to finish, according to Wolfson.

He decided to pursue the training years ago after a spike in DUI arrests.

“We were starting to see the up-ticking trend of drug DUIs, people under the influence of substances over alcohol,” Wolfson said. “The availability of a DRE in this area was: We didn’t have one. It used to be only the state police had them. There weren’t even municipal DREs for a while. Now, it’s flip-flopped. … It’s all about taking these impaired drivers off the road and reducing crashes.

“There’s a DUI issue everywhere (in the state). It’s still an alcohol issue. It’s becoming more of a drug issue with driving. I think we’ve done a good job in reducing (incidents), but you’re never going to end it. We’re doing our best to educate and enforce, but it gets hard.”

Pittsburgh has three DREs. Other departments that have a DRE include Sewickley, McCandless, Jefferson Hills and Castle Shannon.

Wolfson said DREs can testify as experts in court and can give opinions as opposed to nonexperts. Expert testimony holds more weight when building a case, he said.

Association information

Catherine L. Tress, a regional DUI program administrator for the Pennsylvania DUI Association, said her section within the association operates under a PennDOT grant for police traffic services (PTS).

The grants, which are administered through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, cover enforcement activities for specific highway safety such as DUI, aggressive driving and occupant protection.

Allegheny County has six grants held by municipalities, and the police departments each have their own grant coordinators.

O’Hara is a member department for the North Hills PTS grant area.

“Ben has supported not only his own department but also departments within Allegheny regardless of where they may be located,” Tress said. “He is a dedicated officer concerned about drugged drivers on our roadways, whether they are legal prescription or illegal street drugs putting innocent people at risk.”

More information about the Pennsylvania DUI Association is available at padui.org.