COVINGTON, Ga. — The Governor’s Office of Highway Safety has announced that the Newton County Sheriff’s Office is one of 21 law enforcement agencies in Georgia to receive a Highway Enforcement of Aggressive Traffic (HEAT) grant for the 2023 Fiscal Year. 

Referred to as a H.E.A.T. grant, Newton County Sheriff’s Office’s award totals $325,889.

The goal of the H.E.A.T. program is to combat crashes, injuries and fatalities caused by impaired driving and speeding, while also increasing seatbelt use and educating the public about traffic safety and the dangers of DUI.

The Newton County Sheriff’s Office H.E.A.T Unit will use the grant from GOHS to develop and implement strategies to reduce local traffic crashes due to aggressive and dangerous driving behaviors.

Sheriff Ezell Brown said, “This grant will assist the agency in its efforts to make the highways in Newton County safer, especially as the holiday season rapidly approaches.”

Allen Poole, director of the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, said, “Many of the fatal traffic crashes on our roads are preventable, and we will continue to work with our educational and enforcement partners to develop programs and initiatives that are designed to get Georgia to our goal of zero traffic deaths.”

H.E.A.T. grants fund specialize traffic enforcement units in counties throughout the state. The program was designed to assist Georgia jurisdictions with the highest rates of traffic crashes, injuries and fatalities with grants awarded based on impaired driving and speeding data.

As law enforcement partners in the Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over DUI campaign and the Click It Or Ticket seatbelt campaigns, the Newton County Sheriff’s Office will also conduct mobilizations throughout the year in coordination with GOHS’s year-round waves of high visibility patrols, multi-jurisdictional roadchecks and sobriety checkpoints.

For more information about the H.E.A.T. program or any other GOHS campaign, visit www.gahighwaysafety.org or call 404-656-6996.