Phlebotomy Program at Missouri Safety Center Providing New Skills for Law Enforcement

A participant in the Law Enforcement Phlebotomy Program through the Missouri Safety Center practices a blood draw at Moberly Area Community College.

 

Several law enforcement agencies across the state are gaining skills in criminal investigation-related blood draws, thanks to the Law Enforcement Phlebotomy Program (LEPP) and the Missouri Safety Center at the University of Central Missouri (UCM).

The LEPP is funded through a Missouri Department of Transportation Highway Safety & Traffic Division grant to the Missouri Safety Center. A previous grant from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) provided funding for a LEPP Task Force to develop a program manual and best practices for the Missouri program. Funds from the MoDOT Highway Safety & Traffic Division allowed for a pilot program and continuing training that covers participants’ tuition and travel expenses.

Blood draws have become more prevalent in impaired driving enforcement as drug-related impaired driving has increased in the last several years.

“Starting the program came out of a need for agencies that have challenges getting blood draws on impaired drivers,” said Dr. Joanne Kurt-Hilditch, senior director of the Missouri Safety Center. “It’s one more tool that law enforcement has to be able to draw blood.”

The LEPP Task Force is composed of representatives from the Missouri Safety Center, law enforcement, prosecuting attorneys’ offices, Moberly Area Community College (MACC) and highway safety professionals. 

Kurt-Hilditch said the Missouri task force met with officials from Arizona, where law enforcement phlebotomy was pioneered more than 25 years ago, and several other states that already had a LEPP as the program manual was being developed. Now, she and the Missouri program are gaining recognition and becoming a resource for states looking to start similar training programs. 

There are now 24 qualified Law Enforcement Phlebotomists at 17 agencies in Missouri, and the third LEPP session for 2024 is underway. The five current participants have completed their online and on-site training at MACC and are in the clinical phase, which includes completing 100 successful blood draws. Plans are already in the works to have another 22 participants in 2025.

The summer training group included Officer Emma Rogers from the UCM Department of Public Safety. Her position as a traffic officer, which is funded by a MoDOT grant, is focused on impaired driving enforcement. Chief Bill Brinkley, UCM director of Public Safety, said Rogers’ position lends itself to utilizing phlebotomy skills.

“Having an officer trained to be a phlebotomist is essential for streamlining the arrest process,” Rogers explained. “It helps bypass hospitals and ambulances, saving time. The training itself is useful information to have when speaking with hospitals and trying to understand their policies and procedures. It gives a deeper understanding as to why they do what they do.”

Typically, officers take a person to the hospital, where a health care provider conducts the blood draw. That process can now be completed in-house with Rogers' new phlebotomy training.

Once officers are qualified, the LEPP grant funding provides their agency with a phlebotomy chair and other needed supplies. UCM Public Safety has converted an office space into a phlebotomy room for blood draws using the provided items.

“Officer Rogers can draw blood in the exact same manner that they do in the hospital,” Brinkley said. “So instead of taking up a hospital’s time when they should be focusing on their mission and treating patients, we're able to bring them to our office. It also simplifies the evidence chain of custody.”

Since the pilot group finished its training in April 2023, qualified phlebotomists have completed almost 300 blood draws in Missouri communities, either for their agencies or for area agencies requesting assistance. The majority of blood draws were related to driving while intoxicated investigations, while some were in connection to serious injury crashes or leaving the scene of an accident.

During the Missouri Law Enforcement Traffic Safety Advisory Council Conference this summer, the Missouri Safety Center received the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) People Saving People Award for establishing and working on the Missouri LEPP.

“It means that we're getting more impaired drivers off the road and potentially preventing people from losing their lives because the officers don't have to wait several hours to get blood draws done,” Kurt-Hilditch said. “We understand hospitals are busy, and EMTs and first responders are there to save lives. This is the next step in the law enforcement investigation.”

For more information about the Missouri Safety Center, visit mosafetycenter.com.