Author Biography

Since his retirement from Northamptonshire Police, where he served for thirty years, he has been engaged in managing Blueknight Ltd, which has seen a number of iterations over the past ten years.

Stephen completed his service in the force as the training officer for the road policing unit. And he has a wealth of experience in Road Traffic Law Enforcement, covering all disciplines, including a strategic overview as the secretary to the East Midlands Senior Traffic Officers Conference.

His time as the RPU Training Officer saw him able to develop courses from Road Death Investigation, to the ACPO Drug Drive Impairment Testing Training.

Stephen was trained in the United States as a Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) and attained the coveted DRE Instructors Certificate, making him the first Certified DRE and DRE Instructor outside North America. Since 1998, Stephen has been, and remains involved in the development of drug driving testing techniques. He developed the National Drug Drive Instructor Training for Field Impairment Testing and Drug Influence Recognition on behalf of the Association of Chief Police Officers and the Department for Transport. He was the Principal National Trainer for the course and has taught these techniques to police officers around the United Kingdom, New Zealand and the United States.

He is still involved in the drug drive impairment and drug abuse testing field which he has adapted for the corporate world.  His company, Blueknight, specialises in being able to train others to identify the signs and symptoms of drug use/impairment in the workplace and driving setting.

Stephen is a member of the Federation of Drug & Alcohol Professionals (FDAP). He is also an Associate of the Parliamentary Advisory Counsel on Transport Safety (PACTS) and has been a member of Drugscope and the Society for the Study of Addiction.

He has provided training to the Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine and was an Associate Lecturer at Cranfield University.

Stephen has recently began to use his skills in writing on the subject of drugs and alcohol and over the years has been published in

• ‘Forensic Practice in Criminal Cases, published by The Law Society co-author chapter 14 (Drugs, Toxicology and related areas of expertise)


• The Encyclopaedia of Forensic Medicine chapter on drug impairment co-author (1st & 2nd Editions)


• Drinking & Driving: a road safety manual for decision makers & practitioners. (Principle Co-Author) 

He has published his own aide memoir for police officers (currently in its third edition and available from this site) and is currently updating the book to take into account new legislation coming into force this year. He is currently writing another book on the development of field impairment testing and drug recognition in the UK.

Stephen has had articles published in The Police Review, The DRE (in the USA), Drugs & Alcohol Today June 2007 edition and the ADI Magazine