State Provides Landmark Highway Safety Grant to Six Neighboring Sheriffs
8 June 2000
Project is First of Its Kind for the Governor's Highway Safety Program
NEWTON, N.C. - State and national highway safety leaders gathered today at
the Justice Center in Newton to announce a major traffic safety grant from the
Governor's Highway Safety Program to six neighboring sheriffs' offices. The
$630,000 grant, which is supported by an additional $109,000 commitment from
local county governments, will establish traffic enforcement units in sheriffs'
offices located in the heavily traveled corridors of I-40, I-85, and I-77.
Programs will be coordinated through the offices of Burke County Sheriff
John McDevitt, Catawba County Sheriff Dave Huffman, Davie County Sheriff Allen
Whitaker, Iredell County Sheriff Phil Redmond, McDowell County Sheriff Jackie
Turner, and Rowan County Sheriff George Wilhelm.
"The GHSP has never before awarded a grant of this size to a group so
diverse, but which is united in its shared local traffic concerns," said Joe
Parker, director of the Governor's Highway Safety Program. "Given the
dedication and enthusiasm of these sheriffs, we have every confidence that
this region's roads will be safer, and more drivers and passengers will be
spared the pain and loss associated with traffic crashes."
The $739,000 project will provide the equipment and training necessary to
create and maintain effective traffic safety units in each county. Some of
the equipment includes eight patrol vehicles, 10 mobile data terminals,
12 in-car video cameras, 10 traffic radar units, two radar trailers, and a
total of 16 digital telephones, mobile radios and portable radios. It will
also provide payroll, uniforms and related gear for eight traffic officers,
and training to enable deputies to conduct crash reconstruction analysis,
standard field sobriety testing, and child passenger safety.
Senator Austin Allran of Hickory, who was instrumental in passage of a
bill last year that strengthened the state's child passenger safety laws,
commended the sheriffs for their collaborative efforts. "I'm glad to see
highway safety leaders from both sides of the political fence working together
to achieve such important goals," Allran wrote in a letter read at the event.
"There can be no more important work than saving lives and preventing
injuries, and this partnership will do just that."
The project, which is believed to be the first of its kind in the nation,
was praised by Sheriff Philip McKelvey of Dorchester County, MD, near
Baltimore. "It's regrettable that such collaboration should be hailed for its
novelty, but with this promising partnership as a model, many other such
projects are sure to follow," said McKelvey, who is president of the National
Sheriffs Association.
McKelvey noted that there are 2.5 traffic deaths in North Carolina for
every death due to a violent act. "There's an obvious message here, and it's
that we need to focus our resources and attention where the problems are," he
said. "Like these six sheriffs, it was never part of my oath of office to not
enforce traffic laws -- or to put away the citation books during campaign
season. You can do all kinds of criminal enforcement when you do traffic
enforcement. Never forget that Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber, was
caught at a routine traffic stop."
Troy Ayers, regional administrator for the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration, noted the growing participation of North Carolina sheriffs and
their deputies in high-visibility enforcement events for "Click It or Ticket"
and "Booze It & Lose It." He said these six sheriffs are sending a strong
message of support to their law enforcement colleagues statewide -- and also
one of warning to local offenders.
"Make no mistake; the era when drivers figured they could speed past a
deputy without reproach has passed in North Carolina," Ayers said. "I thank
you, gentlemen, for your commitment and dedication to enforcing highway safety
laws, and for making our communities safer places to live and work."
