The Drug Testing and Compliance Unit (DTCU) is responsible for the collection of urine samples in D.C. Superior Court and U.S. District Court for defendants arrested and charged with a criminal offense, as well as respondents ordered into testing by the Family Court Division of the D.C. Superior Court. The DTCU is responsible for:
Collecting urine samples from forms, release orders and any defendants and respondents in lock-up;
Processing defendants and respondents with drug testing conditions;
Providing testimony about relevant drug testing and chain-of-custody information to judicial officers, attorneys, social workers, community supervision officers (CSO) and PSOs;
Referring defendants to the super- vising PSO when there are drug testing violations;
Investigating and providing juvenile delinquency histories to PSA‘s Diagnostic Unit and U.S. Dis- trict Court Supervision Unit to be used for bail purposes;
Monitoring defendants‘ (PSA does not monitor Family Court respondents) initial compliance with drug testing conditions, verifying addresses and court dates; and
Investigating and updating information regarding defendants who fail to report for weekly testing and those who do not show for placements and evaluations.
When the DTCU determines that a defendant reporting for drug testing has an outstanding bench warrant, the DTCU first collects the sample, discreetly notifies the Release Services Unit, and then escorts the defendant to the Release Services Unit for resolution of the warrant.
