Highway safety office at Enterprise State among awarded statewide law enforcement programs

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WTVY) - Alabama Governor Kay Ivey announced Wednesday that $5.6 million in grants would be awarded statewide to law enforcement programs designed to increase public safety for the state’s highways and communities.

The grants, which will be administered by the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA) with funds from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the U.S. Department of Justice, are being distributed to 8 programs in the state.

“Public Safety is a core mission of my Administration. Our state, regional, county and municipal law enforcement officers do a tremendous job keeping our state and her communities safe,” said Ivey. “I am pleased to award these grants to support the programs that help our officers receive the training and resources needed to fulfill their mission to serve and protect our communities and our highways.”

One of five highway safety programs receiving a grant is the Southeast Alabama Regional Highway Safety Office at Enterprise State Community College (ESCC), which will be awarded $1.14 million to support their efforts to make Alabama’s roads safer by preventing injuries and fatalities. That funding will go towards covering overtime for officers, which allows state troopers and sheriffs’ deputies to conduct extra patrols and checkpoints during peak travel times.

The Southeast Alabama Regional Highway Safety Office at ESCC serves the 5 Wiregrass counties (Coffee, Dale, Geneva, Henry, and Houston) as well as Autauga, Barbour, Bibb, Bullock, Butler, Covington, Crenshaw, Lowndes, Montgomery, Pike, Russell and Tuscaloosa counties.

Other rewarded highway safety programs include:

• $1.42 million to the Franklin County Commission for the North Central Alabama Highway Safety Office (Colbert, Cullman, DeKalb, Fayette, Franklin, Lamar, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone, Jackson, Madison, Marshall, Marion, Morgan, Pickens, Walker and Winston counties)
• $1.66 million to the city of Opelika for the East Central Alabama Highway Safety Office (Blount, Calhoun, Chambers, Cherokee, Chilton, Clay, Cleburne, Coosa, Elmore, Etowah, Jefferson, Lee, Macon, Randolph, St. Clair, Shelby, Talladega and Tallapoosa counties)
• $993,266 to the Mobile County Commission for the Southwest Regional Highway Safety Office (Baldwin, Choctaw, Clarke, Conecuh, Dallas, Escambia, Greene, Hale, Marengo, Mobile, Monroe, Perry, Sumter, Washington and Wilcox counties)
• $203,558 to the University of Alabama Center for Advanced Public Safety which uses funds for technology development projects that improve data quality, timeliness, completeness and the efficiency of officers and emergency medical services personnel across the state

In addition, $240,000 in grants are being awarded to Jacksonville State University and the Alabama Department of Corrections’ Law Enforcement Services Division for equipment and forensics training to be utilized statewide, and the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency is receiving $103,343 to be used to ensure compliance of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act.

“We are grateful for the unwavering support of Governor Ivey, as well as the support from ADECA, to assist law enforcement with the funds needed to continuously provide an enhanced layer of protection and service for all. These funds greatly impact our operations and enable our Troopers to actively patrol and work numerous high-visibility details on our state’s roadways, ultimately reducing the number of crashes and traffic fatalities,” said ALEA Secretary Hal Taylor.

“Additionally, the funds distributed for the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act continuously allow our Agency to keep local communities well-informed and promote public awareness, as it relates to the potential threat that sex offenders and fugitives pose to Alabama’s citizens.”

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