GPD awarded $28K in state traffic enforcement grants

GGAINESVILLE - The Gainesville Police Department (GPD) has been awarded two traffic enforcement network grants totaling $28,000 from the Governor's Office of Highway Safety (GOHS). Both grants are non-matching and fully funded by the GOHS.

The department received a $20,000 network grant in recognition of its work as the coordinating agency for the North East Traffic Enforcement Network (N.E.T.E.N). The sixteen regional traffic enforcement networks across the state are sponsored by the GOHS to help enforce Georgia's year-round safety belt, speed and impaired driving campaigns.

The North East Traffic Enforcement Network region includes law enforcement agencies in the 11 northeast Georgia counties: Hall, Forsyth, Dawson, White, Habersham, Rabun, Stephens, Hart, Franklin, Banks, and Jackson.

The grant will be used to support the regional traffic enforcement network and fund traffic safety equipment for the Gainesville Police Department. The N.E.T.E.N. Coordinator, MPO Griggs Wall of the Gainesville Police Department, will organize local law enforcement partners in year-round waves of high visibility concentrated patrols, multi-jurisdictional road safety checks, and sobriety checkpoints for Operation Zero Tolerance, Click It Or Ticket safety belt mobilizations, and Rolling Thunder initiatives in Georgia's high crash corridors.

Additionally, GOHS has awarded the GPD $8,000.00 to replace an aging Intoxilyzer 5000 with a new state of the art Intoxilyzer 9000. The Gainesville Police Department was one of 50 in the state to receive this grant. This will assist in traffic safety efforts and reducing impaired drivers.