Special to the Herald
SPRINGFIELD -- The Effingham County Sheriff’s Office was recently awarded two grants totaling just over $108,200, both to bolster traffic safety measures.
The $75,248.00 High Visibility Enforcement (HVE) grant from the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety (GOHS) is provided by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and is awarded based upon the partnership with The Governor’s Office of Highway Safety in helping to reduce crashes, injuries, and fatalities across the State of Georgia.
“Federal and state crash data show sustained enforcement of traffic laws reduces crashes and saves lives on our roads,” said Allen Poole, Director of the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety. “GOHS will continue to partner with state and local law enforcement to implement projects and initiatives designed to protect everyone using our roads and to help reach our goal of zero traffic deaths in Georgia and our nation.”
Effingham County Sheriff Jimmy McDuffie added, “Receiving these grant funds for traffic enforcement enables us to enhance public safety, reduce dangerous driving behaviors, and ensure that our roads are safer for everyone. With these resources, we can dedicate more personnel and technology to address critical traffic concerns and save lives.”
This grant will continue through September of 2025.
The ECSO also received a grant of $33,011.12 from the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety (GOHS) in recognition of its lifesaving work as the coordinating agency of GOHS’s Southeastern Traffic Enforcement Network. There are 16 traffic enforcement networks across the state that help enforce Georgia’s year-round safety belt, speed- and impaired-driving campaigns.
“This is our way of supporting the Effingham County Sheriff’s Office through its continued leadership via Coordinator SFC. Jamie Thompson and the Southeastern traffic enforcement network,” said Roger Hayes, GOHS Director of Law Enforcement Services.
“This grant will make sure that efforts to protect the public from drunk-, distracted-, and other dangerous driving behaviors will continue as well as recognizing network leadership and law enforcement agencies in this region.”
The Southeastern Traffic Enforcement Network includes law enforcement agencies in seven counties -- Effingham, Chatham, Bryan, Bulloch, Screven, Evens, and Chandler.
The coordinator in the Southeastern traffic enforcement network region will coordinate year-round waves of high visibility, concentrated patrols, multi-jurisdictional road checks, and sobriety checkpoints as a partner in campaigns such as Click It or Ticket, Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over, 100 Days of Summer HEAT, and Operation Southern Slow Down.
