Monrovia Police Department Gets $55,000 Grant

The Monrovia Police Department provided the following news release.

Monrovia Police Department has been awarded a $55,000.00 grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) for a year-long program aimed at preventing deaths and injuries on our roadways through special enforcement and public awareness efforts.

The grant received by Monrovia will aid in the city’s ongoing effort to improve traffic safety and quality of life. Monrovia Police Department will use the funding as part of an on- going commitment to keep our roadways safe through both enforcement and education.

“Our goal is to maintain Monrovia’s status of having zero traffic related fatalities,” says Sergeant Daniel Verna, Traffic Safety Coordinator for the Monrovia Police Department.

The grant will assist in efforts to deal with traffic safety problems and to reduce the number of persons killed and injured in traffic collisions. While traffic deaths from all causes declined by nearly 39 percent between 2006 and 2010 in California, they rose by 2.6 percent in 2011. State and federal officials anticipate that figures will show another rise for 2012.

DUI deaths remain the largest sector, at nearly 30 percent of traffic fatalities. Recent trends show increases in two new categories – distracted driving and drug-impaired driving.

Activities that the grant will fund include:

• Specialized DUI and drugged driving training such as Standardized Field Sobriety Testing (SFST), Advanced Roadside Impaired Driving Enforcement (ARIDE), and Drug Recognition Evaluator (DRE).
•  DUI Saturation Patrols
  
• Distracted driving enforcement
  
• Seat belt and child safety seat 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
  

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