I could understand "officer safety", but what throws me off is he drove to the police station with me in the passenger seat. If I was a safety concern to him, he should have had me in the back I would think.

Well, that is an odd one. The "officer safety" I referred to is during the administration of the SFST's. I have heard troopers/officers testify in some of my hearings that they perform the SFST's near the side of the vehicle so they can see if other cars/persons approach, and so that they are not between their vehicle and the suspect's vehicle in the case of a rear collision crash. But really, in my opinion, this is a guise to do the tests out of the view of the camera so that the administration of the tests cannot easily be critiqued during a motion to suppress. The fact that he had you ride in the passenger seat puzzles me. They will sometimes have you sit there for a while (while stationary) to determine if you have an odor of alcohol on your breath, but not the ride to the station. Maybe it was a short ride and he was being nice?

I think you are very correct that he didn't want the tests to be on video because I can't think of any reason why they'd be off camera. The tests took place in a middle of a parking lot and he had a backup officer (his car was on the other side of his car so I don't see that recording video).

It was about a 5-8 minuet ride to the station. Now that I think about it, he didn't even put my seat belt on while I was being transported. Thanks for the great replies.

You are welcome. Let me know if I can be of any further assistance. Good luck.