NEWTON COUNTY —Sheriff Ezell Brown and the Newton County Sheriff’s Office announced today that it has been awarded a major traffic enforcement grant in the amount of $25,777.44 from the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety (GOHS) in Atlanta.
The Sheriff’s Office received the grant in recognition of its lifesaving work as the coordinating agency of GOHS’s Central Region 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 Newton County Sheriff’s Office through its continued leadership via Coordinator Corporal Patrick Gilbert and the Central Region Traffic Enforcement Network,” said Roger Hayes, GOHS Director of Law Enforcement Services said. “This grant will make sure that efforts to protect the public from drunk, distracted and other dangerous driving behaviors will continue as well as recognizing network leadership and law enforcement agencies in this region for their dedication and hard work to reduce crashes and injuries and eliminate traffic deaths on our roads.”
“Crash data shows enforcement and education of traffic laws are two of most effective countermeasures to help our state and nation reduce crashes and eliminate deaths and serious injuries on our roads,” said Allen Poole, Director of the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety. “Each life saved on our roads is one less family that will have to live with the pain of losing a loved one whose life was taken from them in a traffic crash that was completely preventable.”
The Central Region Traffic Enforcement Network includes law enforcement agencies in nine counties, which include Baldwin, Jones, Jasper, Putnam, Greene, Morgan, Newton, Rockdale and Walton.
“We are honored to receive this grant and to continue our partnership with the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety,” said Sheriff Brown. “This funding strengthens our commitment to saving lives through education, enforcement, and collaboration with our regional partners to make Georgia’s roads safer for everyone.”
The coordinator in the Central Region 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, Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over, 100 Days of Summer HEAT and Operation Southern Slow Down.
For more information on the grant program, call 404-656-6996 or visit www.gahighwaysafety.org
