Wakefield Police Eye Traffic Enforcement With New State Grant Money

WAKEFIELD, MA — A new batch of state funding may soon help the Wakefield Police Department bolster its traffic enforcement programming, according to a state announcement last week and recent comments from police Lieutenant Joseph Anderson.

The town is getting $34,760 through the state Executive Office of Public Safety and Security and its Road Safety Grant program. The money is part of a $10.9 million package that state announced on Wednesday of last week for 186 municipal and state agencies.

The funding aims to improve road safety, as noted in the state’s announcement, going to departments or agencies that submit formal plans to strengthen traffic safety training, equipment, and enforcement and jurisdiction.

Wakefield has won grants through the Road Safety program before, previously winning funding for speed alert signs, children’s bicycle helmets, traffic counters and radar equipment, among other things.

Writing on Tuesday, Anderson told Patch that the new funding will go toward high-visibility traffic safety campaigns and mobilizations, including some of the following programs:

• Winter Impaired Driving
• Distracted Driving
• Click it or Ticket
• Summer Speed Enforcement
• Summer Impaired Driving Enforcement

“Officers will be out looking for dangerous drivers and hope to educate the public on speed limits and seatbelt use,” Anderson wrote in an email.

“We want to thank the Executive Office of Public Safety & Security for this grant award and ask that the public help us keep our roads safe by driving responsibly through Wakefield,” he continued.

Wakefield was one of at least four area communities winning money through this program this year, with Stoneham, Malden and Burlington all also getting grants.