Full Notification

The West Covina Police Department has been awarded a $145,000 grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) for a year-long program of special enforcements and public awareness efforts to prevent traffic related deaths and injuries. This grant creates a new, sworn Police Officer position to focus on traffic problems, including those involving alcohol. The West Covina Police Department will use this grant funding as part of the City’s ongoing commitment to keep our roadways safe and improve the quality of life.

After falling to a ten year low in 2010, the number of persons killed on roadways has climbed nearly 17 percent across the state, with 3,429 fatalities in 2015. Particularly alarming is the rise in pedestrian and bicycle fatalities that now comprise nearly 25 percent of all traffic deaths, along with the growing dangers of distracting technologies and the emergence of drug-impaired driving. While alcohol remains the worst offender for DUI crashes, West Covina PD supports the new effort from OTS that aims to drive awareness that “DUI Doesn’t Just Mean Booze.” Prescription medications and marijuana can also be impairing by themselves, or in combination with alcohol, and can result in a DUI arrest. This grant funding will provide opportunities to combat these and other devastating problems such as speeding and crashes at intersections.

Activities that the grant will fund include:
• Traffic enforcement and safety operations
• DUI checkpoints
• DUI saturation patrols

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

Any media related inquiries, please call (626) 523-4031.