Release:
The Valdosta Police Department announced today that it has been awarded a major traffic enforcement grant in the amount of $19,721.80 from the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety (GOHS) in Atlanta.
Valdosta Police Department received the grant in recognition of its lifesaving work as the coordinating agency of GOHS’s Southern 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.
“With the increase in the number of persons killed in traffic crashes in Georgia and across the nation over the last year, the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety is working with partners like PAC to implement programs designed to stop the risky driving behaviors that are contributing to a majority of our serious-injury and fatality crashes,” 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.”
The Southern Region Traffic Enforcement Network includes law enforcement agencies in 12 counties, which include Atkinson, Lowndes, Berrien, Ben Hill, Brooks, Clinch, Coffee, Cook, Echols, Irwin, Lanier, and Tift counties.
“The Valdosta Police Department has had long standing relationship with the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety (GOHS), working together to keep our community safe. This grant will help provide resources that will be used to help keep South Georgia roads safe.”, stated Interim Valdosta Police Chief Leslie Manahan.
The coordinator in the Southern Region Traffic Enforcement Network region will coordinate year-round waves of high visibility, concentrated patrols, multi-jurisdictional roadchecks and sobriety checkpoints as a partner in campaigns such as Click It or Ticket, Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over and 100 Days of Summer HEAT.
For more information on the Valdosta Police Department’s award, contact Sergeant Bucky Griffin, (229) 242-2606, or bgriffin@valdostacity.com. For more information on the grant program, call 404-656-6996 or visit www.gahighwaysafety.org.
