DPD Awarded $20,000 Traffic Enforcement Grant

DALTON, Georgia (WDEF) – The Dalton Police Department has been awarded a major traffic enforcement grant from the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety (GOHS) in Atlanta.

Dalton Police Department received the grant in recognition of its lifesaving work as the coordinating agency of GOHS’s Mountain Area Traffic Enforcement Network.

There are sixteen traffic enforcement networks across the state that help enforce Georgia’s year-round safety belt, speed and impaired driving campaigns.

“This is our way of supporting the Dalton Police Department through its continued leadership via Coordinator David Saylors and the Mountain Area Traffic Enforcement Network traffic enforcement network,” said GOHS Law Enforcement Services Director Roger Hayes. “We want to make sure they can continue their region-wide efforts to protect Georgia motorists from drunk and otherwise dangerous drivers. They’ve proven their dedication and this grant serves not only as recognition for that hard work, but as means for continuing the GOHS mission of reducing crashes, injuries and fatalities on our roads.”

The Mountain Area Traffic Enforcement Network Traffic Enforcement Network includes law enforcement agencies in [10] counties, which include Aragon, Bartow County, Calhoun, Catoosa County, Cave Spring, Cedartown, Chatsworth, Chattooga County, Chickamauga, Cohutta, Dade County, Dalton, Dalton State College, Emerson, Eton, Fairmount, Floyd County, Fort Oglethorpe, Gordon County, Kingston, LaFayette, Murray County, Polk County, Polk County Sheriff, Ringgold, Rockmart, Rome, Trenton, Trion, Tunnel Hill, Varnell, Walker County, White, Whitfield County.

“We really appreciate the resources and partnership we receive from participation with the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, it is making a difference in our community,” said Chief Jason Parker. “The timing couldn’t be better since we have seen a sizeable increase in traffic crashes in our community, and that mirrors what’s happening statewide. The traffic enforcement network concept works well because it applies a strategic, coordinated approach to improving highway safety here at home and across the state.”

The GOHS grant awards $20,000 to the Dalton Police Department, with half to support the activities of the traffic enforcement network and half to be spent on traffic safety equipment for Dalton Police Department.

The coordinator in the Mountain Area Traffic Enforcement Network region will coordinate year-round waves of high visibility, concentrated patrols, multi-jurisdictional road checks and sobriety checkpoints as a partner in campaigns such as Click It or Ticket, Operation Zero Tolerance and the Thunder Taskforce.

For more information on the Dalton Police Department’s award, contact David Saylors 706-278-9085, dsaylors@cityofdalton-ga.gov. For more information on the grant program, call 404-656-6996 or visit www.gahighwaysafety.org.