PAULDING COUNTY 

SHERIFF’S OFFICE

Awarded $73,700.00 H.E.A.T. Enforcement Grant

(ATLANTA)  The Paulding County Sheriff’s Office has been awarded a major, public safety partnership H.E.A.T. grant totaling $73,700.00 from the Georgia Governor's Office of Highway Safety (GOHS) in Atlanta.   H.E.A.T, which stands for Highway Enforcement of Aggressive Traffic, includes the primary goals of (1) reducing impaired driving crashes; (2) reducing excessive speeding; (3) increasing the safety belt usage rate; and (4) educating the public about traffic safety.

The Paulding County Sheriff’s H.E.A.T. Unit will develop and implement strategies to reduce crashes, injuries, and fatalities from drugs and alcohol, speed and aggressive driving, and non-use of safety belts within their jurisdiction. The grant went into effect on October 1, 2012 and will continue until September 30 of this year.

“The H.E.A.T. grant helps support the Paulding County Sheriff’s enforcement efforts and is a reminder of their dedication in supporting the GOHS mission to protect Georgians from speeders and impaired drivers,” said GOHS Director Harris Blackwood. “Crashes involving impaired drivers killed 331 people across Georgia in 2009. The chance of a fatal crash involving drivers impaired by drugs or alcohol is much higher than the rate for fatal crashes not related to impairment.”

H.E.A.T. programs based on impaired driving and speeding data include 22 Georgia counties and have covered most of Metro Atlanta.  The H.E.A.T. initiative was designed to serve Georgia jurisdictions with the highest rates of crashes, injuries and deaths. 

“The H.E.A.T. initiative seeks to increase the impaired driver arrests, reduce dangerous speeders, educate the public about the dangers of DUI and provide a high visibility enforcement profile in the communities that need it most,” said GOHS Director Blackwood.

Georgia’s H.E.A.T. Units consistently provide the kind of high-profile traffic law enforcement required to save lives on our highways.  For more information about the GOHS H.E.A.T. initiative contact Lt. Scarlett Woods, H.E.A.T. Coordinator, at (404) 656-6996 or swoods@gohs.ga.gov .  To learn about other lifesaving highway safety campaigns, visit us on the web at www.gahighwaysafety.org .

For More Information:

Corporal Ashley Henson

Public Information Officer

Paulding County Sheriff’s Office

(770) 443-3010

ahenson@paulding.gov