Holiday Season Will Bring Increased DUI Enforcement In Georgia

From the Georgia GOHS:

Holiday Season Will Bring Increased DUI Enforcement In Georgia

Don’t wreck the holidays before you can deck the halls

(ATLANTA) The Governor’s Office of Highway Safety is teaming up with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and law enforcement officers this holiday season to remind all motorists that drinking and driving will not only get you on Santa’s naughty list, but it will also send you straight to jail.

That means that from Dec. 15 to Jan. 2 in Georgia, law enforcement all over the state will be looking to prevent tragedy before it strikes during the holiday enforcement campaign of Drive Sober Or Get Pulled Over. While Georgia’s impaired driving laws are enforced 24/7/365, the holiday season brings extra emphasis because of the increased number of travelers hitting the road to see friends and family.

Why the continued emphasis on drunk driving? In 2016, Georgia experienced 368 alcohol-impaired fatalities, which is 10 more than 2015, for a total of 24 percent of all traffic fatalities. This means nearly a quarter of all traffic deaths in Georgia involve an impaired driver.

“The holidays should be a time for celebrations and making memories, not a time of tragedy,” GOHS Director Harris Blackwood said. “Not only do we want people to get a designated driver to begin with, but we want them to know that if they fail to do so, they will go to jail. No warnings, no excuses.”

According to NHTSA, 37,461 people were killed in traffic crashes in 2016 and 28 percent of those fatalities involved a driver with a blood alcohol concentration above the legal limit of .08, which is the current limit in all 50 states. These crash deaths affect motorists, passengers and pedestrians alike.

“Unfortunately, alcohol at many holiday events contributes to the number of impaired drivers on our roads,” Blackwood said. “When you are planning what you are going to wear, what time you are going to arrive and what you are going to bring, also plan ahead for your sober ride home with a designated driver, ride service or a friend.”

Drinking and driving should never be combined. It’s essential to plan a sober ride in advance if the holiday celebration will include alcohol. The alternative could change your life, not to mention the lives of your passengers, or of other pedestrians or drivers and passengers nearby.

GOHS and NHTSA suggest the following safety tips to enjoy a safe night out this holiday season:

• Plan ahead. If you plan to drink, plan for a sober driver to take you home. If it’s your turn to be the designated driver, take the responsibility seriously.
• Remember that it is never okay to drink and drive. Even if you’ve only had one alcoholic beverage, designate a sober driver or plan to use public transportation to get home safely.
• Use rideshare programs like Uber or Lyft.
• Download GOHS’ ‘Drive Sober, Georgia’ smartphone app for a list of sober ride programs and taxi services in your area or program taxi company phone numbers into your phone ahead of time.
• Be prepared to take keys away from someone who is impaired and if you see an impaired driver while on the road, call 9-1-1 or dial *GSP from your cell phone to be connected to the nearest state patrol post.

“We want to keep Georgia’s roads safe this holiday season and help people understand that the only time they should be behind the wheel is when they are sober,” Blackwood said. “Alcohol affects people differently and you do not have to be feeling or acting drunk to be too impaired to drive.”

For more information on the impaired driving program at the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, go to www.gahighwaysafety.org or visit us on social media at www.facebook.com/gahighwaysafety and @gohsgeorgia on Twitter.

Douglas County Sheriff’s Office Awarded $20,000.00 Traffic Enforcement Grant

PRESS RELEASE

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office announced today that it has been awarded a major traffic enforcement grant from the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety (GOHS) in Atlanta. We received the grant in recognition of its lifesaving work as the coordinating agency of GOHS’s 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 Lieutenant John Jewell and the Western Regional Traffic Enforcement Network,” said GOHS Law Enforcement Services Senior LEL Ed Weaver. “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 GOBS 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 us, 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, please contact Lieutenant John Jewell at 678-486-1219 or by email at jjewell@sheriff.douglas.ga.us. For more information on the grant program, call 404-656-6996 or visit www.gahighwaysafety.org.

Two Men Captured and Arrested After Armed Robbery

On 08/09/2017, two men robbed the AT&T store on Thornton Rd. at gunpoint, demanding money and taking iPhones. The suspects then fled, but were spotted a short distance away on Skyview near Thornton. Deputy Manson and Master Sgt. Leaman attempted to pull the suspects’ car over, but the suspects fled, instead. A chase ensued and ended with a PIT maneuver near Thornton and Interstate West Parkway. Both men were taken into custody without further incident, and have been charged with armed robbery. The driver also has charges of theft, possession of a firearm during a crime, and felony fleeing and eluding.

Sheriff Pounds Unveils the New SCORPION Unit

Sheriff’s COncentRated Patrol and aggressIve felOny interdictioN

The S.C.O.R.P.I.O.N. Unit is a four person team comprised of three deputies and a Sergeant. Sheriff Pounds created the Scorpion unit to deploy into high crime areas of the county to show criminals he means business. The officers will be driving the most state-of-the-art patrol cars and will possess all the necessary equipment and training to accomplish their objective. Their first assignment is the Thornton Road area. In their first month, the unit made 40 arrests: 19 misdemeanors and 21 felonies.

Expired Tag Leads to Drug and Weapons Arrest

As anyone on patrol will tell you, there’s no such thing as a “routine traffic stop.” This morning was no exception. Just before 5 a.m., Deputy Garrett pulled over a white Toyota Celica with expired tags at the QT off Hwy 92 near I-20. When he approached the vehicle, he noticed a rifle on the seat and a clear bag hanging out of a black one. He asked the driver to exit the vehicle before he performed a search. During the search, Deputy Garrett discovered scales, and a sawed off shotgun in addition to the rifle. The driver, identified as Phillip Clay, will be charged with the following:

• Theft by receiving stolen property (felony)
• Possession of a firearm by convicted felon
• Possession of meth
• Possession drug related object
• Expired tag

Man Arrested for Entering Autos

n the morning of June 7, 2017, Deputies A. Phillips and A. French responded to a call from an Elite Autos employee about a suspicious person. The employee had confronted the man about being on the dealership property before regular business hours and sitting in a car that had not yet been prepared for sale. When the employee began talking to the suspect, the man quickly walked away and disappeared around the building. The suspect was described as a 6-foot-tall, slender black male wearing a bright orange shirt with a landscaping company logo on it. Deputy Phillips arrived at the dealership where the employee showed her that six vehicles had been broken into. Deputy French also responded to the call, and found a person matching the suspect’s description behind some nearby businesses. The person was identified by the dealership employee as the same man he’d talked to earlier.

Click It Or Ticket, Border 2 Border

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office will be participating in the Georgia GOHS “Click It Or Ticket, Border 2 Border” campaign on Monday, May 22nd from 4pm – 8pm. This campaign is to raise awareness about the importance of always wearing your seat belt. According to GDOT‘s statistics released May 12th, there have already been 494 fatality accidents statewide this year, and of those fatalities 234 were unbuckled or not known if buckled. Please remember to always wear a seat belt! A road trip, routine commute, or a short drive to the store can change in an instant!

WRTEN Meeting and Traffic Safety Checkpoint

Sheriff Tim Pounds and the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office hosted the April meeting of the Western Regional Traffic Enforcement Network (WRTEN) last night. After the meeting, several different agencies including the Georgia State Patrol and the Douglasville Police Department conducted a traffic safety checkpoint at the exit ramp of I-20 at Lee Rd. Deputies and officers were primarily looking for impaired drivers, and there were several DUI arrests by the time the safety checkpoint wrapped up. We encourage everyone to designate a sober driver, buckle up, don’t text and drive, and keep it under the speed limit.