NEWS RELEASE January 20, 2015 Ellijay, GA:
The Gilmer County Sheriff’s Office announced today that it has been awarded a major traffic enforcement grant from the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety (GOHS) in Atlanta.The Gilmer County Sheriff’s Office received the grant in recognition of its lifesaving work as the coordinating agency of GOHS’s Appalachian Trail Traffic Enforcement Network. There are sixteen traffic enforcement networks across the state that help enforce Georgia’s year-round safety belt, speed and impaired driving campaigns.

“This is our way of supporting the Gilmer County Sheriff’s Office through its continued leadership via Coordinator Sgt. J.S. Chancey and the Appalachian Trail traffic enforcement network,”

said GOHS Law Enforcement Services Director Roger Hayes.

“We want to make sure they can continue their region-wide efforts to protect Georgia motorists from drunk and otherwise dangerous drivers. They’ve proven their dedication and this grant serves not only as recognition for that hard work, but as means for continuing the GOHS mission of reducing crashes, injuries and fatalities on our roads.”

The Appalachian Trail Traffic Enforcement Network includes law enforcement agencies in 8 counties, which include Cherokee, Pickens, Gilmer, Fannin, Towns, Union, Lumpkin, and Dawson.

The GOHS grant awards $20,000 to the Gilmer County Sheriff’s Office, with half to support the activities of the traffic enforcement network and half to be spent on traffic safety equipment for the Gilmer County Sheriff’s Office. The coordinator in the Appalachian Trail traffic enforcement network region will coordinate year-round waves of high visibility, concentrated patrols, multi-jurisdictional roadchecks and sobriety checkpoints as a partner in campaigns such as Click It or Ticket, Operation Zero Tolerance and the Thunder Taskforce.

For more information on the Gilmer County Sheriff’s Office award, contact Sgt. J.S. Chancey at 706-515-2868 or via email at [email protected]. For more information on the grant program, call 404-656-6996 or visit www.gahighwaysafety.org.

Feature photo courtesy of the GCSO.