It includes Forsyth County in our area.
Bob Dallas said the $3.2 million H.E.A.T. grant package is designed to greatly enhance highway safety enforcement efforts and help reduce DUI crashes, injuries and fatalities throughout Georgia. H.E.A.T. stands for "Highway Enforcement of Aggressive Traffic."
"H.E.A.T. is a multi-jurisdictional traffic law enforcement campaign aimed at reducing the high number of fatality crashes on Georgia's highway systems by targeting aggressive drivers who climb behind the wheel with high-risk driving habits," said Director Dallas. "H.E.A.T. Units focus on ticketing illegal speeders and unbuckled drivers, and especially on sending impaired drivers to jail."
The GOHS H.E.A.T. initiative began only a few years ago with enforcement units assigned from eight Metro Atlanta law enforcement agencies to help combat a disproportionate DUI statistical profile here. Soon, the H.E.A.T. concept proved so successful, it was expanded to operate statewide. Nine law enforcement agencies will receive $1,951,200 in renewed H.E.A.T. grants from GOHS to keep their special enforcement units on the road in 2006.
Albany PD (two officers) $119,000 HEAT Grant
Atlanta PD (four officers & one pedestrian officer) $269,000 HEAT Grant
Clayton Cty PD (three officers) $177,800 HEAT Grant
Cobb Cty PD (three officers) $136,500 HEAT Grant
College Park PD (three officers) $125,800 HEAT Grant
DeKalb Cty PD (three officers) $127.600 HEAT Grant
Forsyth Cty SO (three deputies) $126,500 HEAT Grant
Georgia State Patrol (ten troopers) $675,200 HEAT Grant
Savannah-Chatham Metro HEAT (five officers) $193,500 HEAT Grant
The overall goal of this grant program is to create statewide high-visibility enforcement of Georgia's DUI and speed laws and to increase public awareness of Georgia's deadly DUI and speed problem. Seven new law enforcement agencies will now place the GOHS H.E.A.T. logo on their special enforcement vehicles in 2006, thanks to an additional $1,252,500 in GOHS grant money.
Carroll Cty SO (three deputies)$192,000
Cherokee Cty SO (three deputies)$244,900
Coweta Cty SO (three deputies)$228,700
Dougherty Cty PD (one officer)$ 87,100
Duluth PD (two officers)$139,300
Henry Cty PD (three officers)$112,900
Richmond Cty SO (three deputies)$247,600
Altogether, the sixteen H.E.A.T. Units funded for 2006 are responsible for year-round DUI and speed enforcement on Georgia's highways. The Units are deployed as self-contained enforcement teams to conduct sobriety checkpoints and concentrated patrols targeting illegal speeders and impaired drivers. For the third consecutive year, the Metro Atlanta H.E.A.T. Unit was recently recognized by the International Association of Chiefs of Police for its outstanding multi-jurisdictional DUI, speed, and safety belt enforcement program.
Last year, a $693,000 GOHS grant paid for the creation of the special Georgia State Patrol H.E.A.T. Unit with ten fully-equipped GSP police pursuit vehicles and the salaries of the Troopers who operate them. The GSP unit officially began operations in the Fall of 2004. Since then, it has been successfully conducting active patrols and targeting times and roadways with known higher incidence of encountering impaired drivers and speeders.
GOHS Director Dallas says H.E.A.T. Units have the potential to successfully apprehend many impaired drivers who may have previously slipped through other DUI enforcement efforts. "H.E.A.T. operations concentrate on arresting more dangerous DUI offenders, removing them from the roads where they present a deadly threat to other drivers and pedestrians." Dallas said, "The growing presence of these concentrated H.E.A.T. Units should significantly increase public awareness and act as a deterrent to many would-be impaired drivers. This is the kind of protection the driving public deserves year-round and around the state."
http://accesswdun.com/article/2005/11/122073