A state trooper from Harrison who made almost 500 evaluations of suspected drunken or drugged drivers won a national award for his work.
State police Cpl. Chris Robbins is the first Pennsylvania state trooper to receive the Excellence in Drug Recognition award from the International Association of Chiefs of Police.
He is one of about 200 drug recognition experts in the state. He was nominated by the Pennsylvania DUI Association and state police.
The DUI Association will recognize Robbins, who is stationed in Kittanning, during its Oct. 23-25 annual conference at the Sheraton Station Square in Pittsburgh.
Robbins was certified as a drug recognition expert in 2012 and he was classified an expert by courts.
Since then, he has done at least 78 evaluations of suspected impaired drivers each year.
Robbins is the western regional coordinator of 33 state police drug recognition experts.
In 2018, he did 89 evaluations — the most that year.
The Kittanning station has 34 troopers assigned to patrol, and they made 583 drunken-driving arrests last year, according to David Andrasick, state coordinator for the PA DUI Association.
Andrasick, who is a retired trooper, and other troopers nominated Robbins for the International Chief’s DRE award that is named in memory of Karen Tarney-Bookstaff, who co-founded Citizens Against Drug Impaired Driving with her husband. She died in 2006.
