Full Notification

<p><strong><em>NEWS RELEASE</em></strong></p>

<p><em>Release Date: September 30, 2016&nbsp; </em></p>

<p><strong>Modesto Police Department</strong></p>

<p>Media Relations Unit &nbsp;</p>

<p>Office of the Chief of Police</p>

<p>600 10th Street, Modesto, CA 95355</p>

<p><strong>Modesto, CA </strong>- Modesto Police Department has been awarded a $426,064.00 grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) for a year-long program of special enforcements and public awareness efforts to prevent traffic related deaths and injuries.&nbsp; Modesto Police Department will use the funding as part of the city&rsquo;s ongoing commitment to keep our roadways safe and improve the quality of life through both enforcement and education.</p>

<p>&ldquo;The Modesto Police Department is pleased to have received traffic safety funding from the California Office of Traffic Safety,&rdquo; said Chief of Police Galen Carroll.&nbsp; &ldquo;With this funding, we will be able to increase our traffic safety enforcement efforts, in order to reduce traffic related injuries and deaths within our community.</p>

<p>After falling to a ten year low in 2010, the number of persons killed has climbed nearly 17% across the state with 3,176 killed in 2015 according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.&nbsp; Particularly alarming is the six year rise in pedestrian and bicycle fatalities, along with the growing dangers of distracting technologies, and the emergence of drug-impaired driving as a major problem. This grant funding will provide opportunities to combat these and other devastating problems such as drunk driving, speeding and crashes at intersections.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Years of research tell us that enforcement and education work best jointly to combat unsafe driving,&rdquo; said OTS Director Rhonda Craft.&nbsp; &ldquo;This grant brings both tactics together, with the Office of Traffic Safety and the Modesto Police Department working in concert to help keep the streets and highways safe across Modesto and the state.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Activities that the grant will fund include:</p>

<ul>
<li>Educational presentations</li>
<li>DUI checkpoints</li>
<li>DUI saturation patrols</li>
<li>Bicycle and pedestrian safety enforcement</li>
<li>Motorcycle safety enforcement</li>
<li>Distracted driving enforcement</li>
<li>Seat belt and child safety seat enforcement</li>
<li>Speed, red light, and stop sign enforcement</li>
<li>Compilation of DUI &ldquo;Hot Sheets,&rdquo; identifying worst-of-the-worst DUI offenders</li>
<li>Specialized DUI and drugged driving training such as Standardized Field Sobriety Testing (SFST), Advanced Roadside Impaired Driving Enforcement (ARIDE), and Drug Recognition Evaluator (DRE)</li>
</ul>

<p>Officers from the Modesto Police Department&rsquo;s DUI Enforcement Team will be deploying this weekend to stop and arrest alcohol and drug-impaired drivers in the Department&rsquo;s ongoing traffic safety campaign.&nbsp; DUI Saturation Patrol will deploy on Saturday, October 1, 2016 between the hours of 8:30 p.m. and 3:30 a.m. in areas with high frequencies of DUI collisions and/or arrests.</p>

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

<p>If you have any information regarding criminal activity, please call Crime Stoppers at (209) 521-4636. &nbsp;Callers to Crime Stoppers can remain anonymous and may be eligible for a cash reward. &nbsp;Tipsters may also text information to Crime Stoppers at 274637.&nbsp; Just type &ldquo;TIP704&rdquo; along with your message.</p>

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