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CANON CITY, COLO. -- Law enforcement officers across southern Colorado gear up to catch drunk drivers.

Police officers and deputies from across the region attended a class Wednesday designed to help them detect the slightest bit of impairment.

"It's a training for them to detect impaired motorists, whether alcohol or drugs, with a focus on alcohol, and look at their driving behaviors, look at the behaviors they may exhibit or visible indicators of impairment, and then learn how to test those drivers to determine whether or not they should be arrested," John McFarland, a police officer and instructor, said.

After 2 1/2 days of classroom training, officers put their knowledge to the test by conducting sobriety tests on volunteers who had several drinks.

"Most of them, not all of them, but most of them indicated that they thought that they would be safe to drive," McFarland said.

Officers learned to detect when drivers were impaired, even when they thought they weren't.

"Honestly, I thought I was passing those vision tests" Ian Sturgeon, a volunteer test subject, said.

Even if a driver has a Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) below the legal limit of .08, it doesn't mean they are safe in the state of Colorado.

"In Colorado we can charge somebody if their blood alcohol is as low as .05, and we call that driving while ability impaired," McFarland said.

McFarland said they can even arrest someone with a BAC below .05 if the driver shows any signs of impairment at all.

"People get hung up on that .08, but the statue says if they're impaired to the slightest degree it's still a DUI or a form of DUI," he said.

Officers said it's all in the name of safety.

"It doesn't take but a split second for that driver to veer into the other side of the lane, and who knows who's on the other side," Adam Fraker, an officer taking the class, said.

McFarland reiterated it is all about safety.

"We've proven through several studies that the more drivers we arrest, the fewer people die in drunk driving-related crashes," McFarland said.

New officers said the training was helpful.

"When I was first taking this class and they were doing the dry labs, and they were telling us what to look for I was really afraid I wasn't gonna catch it," Fraker said. "Now doing the wet labs I see it's really easy to see in all the drivers everything that they've taught us to look for."

Test subjects said the whole experience was eye-opening.

"There's a point where you start to lose judgment of 'am I good or am I not good?' And it's such a finite line that you should air on the side of caution," Ian Sturgeon, a test subject, said.

Sturgeon said most drivers probably can't tell when they are over the limit.

"The difference between a .03 and a .07, you cannot detect that in your brain, no way, so definitely take it easy, one to two beers max and anything past that you're asking for trouble," Sturgeon said. "If you're feeling any effects of alcohol at all, don't drive."

Each test subject was given a ride to and from the training.