The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office was recently awarded two grants. The first grant for $20,000.00 will be used for traffic enforcement. The second grant for $31,110.93 was awarded to our Highway Enforcement of Aggressive Traffic (HEAT) Unit.
We received the $20,000.00 grant in recognition of our lifesaving work as the coordinating agency of Governor’s Office of Highway Safety Western Regional 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 Douglas County Sheriff’s Office through its continued leadership via Coordinator Dep. Matt Atkins and the Western Regional 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 Western Regional Traffic Enforcement Network includes law enforcement agencies in eight counties, which include Douglas, Carroll Haralson, Heard, Troup, Coweta, Meriwether, and Paulding Counties.
Sheriff Tim Pounds and the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office are very pleased and appreciative to receive this grant from the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety. This grant will assist and help along with the other agencies in the Western Regional Network by keeping our roadways safe for the citizens of each county.
The GOHS grant awards $20,000.00 to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, with half to support the activities of the traffic enforcement network and half to be spent on traffic safety equipment for our agency. The coordinator in the Western Regional 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 award, contact Dep. Matthew Atkins at 770-942-2121 or by email at matkins@sheriff.douglas.ga.us. For more information on the grant program, call 404-656-6996 or visit www.gahighwaysafety.org.
The second grant of $31,110.93 will help finance our Highway Enforcement of Aggressive Traffic (HEAT) Unit. The unit is designed to educate the public and enforce laws related to impaired and aggressive driving. Each officer is armed with materials to educate Georgia residents about state laws that regulate aggressive and impaired driving. Education and enforcement must go hand-in-hand for the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety and its statewide partners to be successful in reducing the number of crashes, fatalities and injuries on our highways.
The grant year for this award will be October 1 of 2018 to September 30 of 2019.
For more information on this grant program, contact GOHS at 404-656-6996 and for more information on GOHS and its other highway safety programs, visit www.gahighwaysafety.org.