Special Traffic Enforcement and Crash Prevention Grant

NEWS RELEASE

October 26, 2015

           

CONTACT: Sgt. Kollin Cieadlo / 626-574-5475

ARCADIA POLICE DEPARTMENT RECEIVES GRANT FOR

SPECIAL TRAFFIC ENFORCEMENT AND CRASH PREVENTION

The Arcadia Police Department has been awarded a $137,000  grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) for a year-long program of special enforcements and public awareness efforts to prevent traffic related deaths and injuries. The Arcadia Police Department will use the funding as part of the city’s ongoing commitment to keep our roadways safe and improve the quality of life through both enforcement and education.

The Arcadia Police Department benefits from this grant by enhancing the department’s current traffic philosophy that embraces educating our community regarding traffic safety and enforcing hazardous traffic violations that place the city’s residents and visitors at risk.  As with last year, the grant will provide advanced, specialized training for Arcadia Police Department personnel and will create even more opportunities for our officers to be visible throughout the community.   We have every reason to believe the combined efforts of the Office of Traffic Safety and the Arcadia Police Department will have an impact in reducing the number of people injured or killed in traffic collisions.

After falling dramatically between 2006 and 2010, the number of persons killed and injured in traffic collisions has been slowly rising.  Particularly alarming are recent increases in pedestrian and bicycle fatalities, the growing dangers of distracting technologies, and the emergence of drug-impaired driving as a major problem. This grant funding will provide opportunities to combat these and other devastating problems such as drunk driving, speeding and crashes at intersections.

“Overall, California’s roadways are among the safest in the nation,” said OTS Director Rhonda Craft.  “But to meet future mobility, safety, and accessible transportation objectives, we have to reverse this recent trend in order to reach our common goal – zero deaths on our roadways.  The Office of Traffic Safety and the Arcadia Police Department want to work with everyone to create a culture of traffic safety across Arcadia and the state.”

Activities that the grant will fund include:

·         Educational presentations

·         DUI checkpoints

·         DUI saturation patrols

·         Distracted driving enforcement

·         Seat belt and child safety seat enforcement

·         Bicycle and pedestrian safety enforcement

·         Speed, red light, and stop sign enforcement

·         Warrant service operations targeting multiple DUI offenders

·         Compilation of DUI “Hot Sheets,” identifying worst-of-the-worst DUI offenders

·         Specialized DUI and drugged driving training such as Standardized Field Sobriety Testing (SFST), Advanced Roadside Impaired Driving Enforcement (ARIDE), and Drug Recognition Evaluator (DRE)

·         Stakeout operations to observe the “worst-of-the-worst” repeat DUI offender probationers with suspended or revoked driver licenses

Funding for this program is from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Robert T. Guthrie

Chief of Police

By: Kollin Cieadlo

Traffic Sergeant

  

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