AZDPS Trooper Visits American Samoa to Teach Island Officials

In January 2018, AZDPS Trooper Shannon Soto traveled to the remote islands of American Samoa to teach a class to a group of 20 officers from the American Samoa Department of Public Safety (ASDPS) on Standardized Field Sobriety Tests (SFST), Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus (HGN) and Advanced Roadside Impaired Driving Enforcement. Trooper Soto was joined by instructors from the Gilbert and Phoenix Police Departments. These officers are all instructors for the Arizona Police Officer DUI Course with over 65 years of cumulative law enforcement experience, primarily Traffic DUI Enforcement and were hand-picked by Alberto Guttier, Director of the Arizona Governor’s Office of Highway Safety.

The largest of seven islands, Tutuila, is 77 square miles, has 8200 registered vehicles and slightly under 150 miles of roadways. The maximum speed limit for the entire island is 30mph. The ASDPS has close to 154 sworn officers with 24 of them carrying firearms.

Trooper Soto is a 14-year veteran with AZDPS and currently serves as the agency’s Impaired Driving Programs Coordinator. Trooper Soto is responsible for facilitating training for Arizona State Troopers in all areas of impaired driving enforcement. Trooper Soto is also assigned to the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety as the Central Regional Drug Recognition (DRE) Coordinator. Trooper Soto assists law enforcement agencies in Yuma County, Gila County, La Paz County and Maricopa County with facilitating impaired driving enforcement training for their employees.