Redondo Beach PD Clinches $130K Grant to Improve Safety on the Streets

From the Redondo Beach Police Department:

The Redondo Beach Police Department has been awarded a $130,000 grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety for a year-long program of special enforcements and public awareness efforts to prevent traffic related deaths and injuries.

The Redondo Beach Police Department will use the funding as part of the city’s ongoing commitment to keep our roadways safe and improve the quality of life through both enforcement and education.

“Redondo Beach residents frequently point to traffic safety as one of their top quality of life concerns in the city,” said Interim Chief of Police Jeff Hink. “The police department is grateful for the award from OTS, as it will allow the ability for officers to be scheduled in a manner that allows them to specifically focus their efforts on enforcing traffic laws by targeting distracted driving, speed, stop sign, red light, and other safety violations instead of handling other non- traffic related calls for service.”

After falling dramatically between 2006 and 2010, the number of persons killed and injured in traffic collisions saw slight increases in 2011 and 2012. Particularly worrisome are recent increases in pedestrian and motorcycle fatalities and the dangers of distracting technologies. This grant funding will provide opportunities to combat these and other devastating problems such as drunk and drugged driving and speeding.

“California’s roadways are still among the safest in the nation,” said OTS Director Rhonda Craft. “But to meet future mobility, safety, and sustainability objectives, we must create safer roadways for all users. The Redondo Beach Police Department will be using these and other resources to reach the vision we all share – Toward zero deaths, every one counts.”

Activities that the grant will fund include:

• Educational presentations
• DUI checkpoints
• DUI saturation patrols
• Motorcycle safety enforcement
• Distracted driving enforcement
• Speed, red light, and stop sign enforcement
• Compilation of DUI “Hot Sheets,” identifying worst-of-the-worst DUI offenders
• Specialized DUI and drugged driving training such as Standardized Field Sobriety Testing, Advanced Roadside Impaired Driving Enforcement, and Drug Recognition Evaluator

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

PHOTO Patch file photo.

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