By STACY MILLBERG - Staff Writer - smillberg@starbeacon.com
JEFFERSON — The Ashtabula County Sheriff’s Department has been awarded a federal grant for “high visibility enforcement overtime.”
The enforcement program is aimed to increase enforcement in traffic problem areas and raise public awareness through high visibility of law enforcement officers and increase motorcycle safety and awareness. It is designed to target excessive speed, nonuse of seat belts and child-restraint devices, and other traffic-related violations, said sheriff’s Lt. Greg Leonhard. The objective is to increase safety-belt and child-restraint usage, increase public awareness and to reduce the number of traffic fatalities, making Ashtabula County roads safer, he said.
Leonhard said the department also increases visibility during prom and homecoming season and during all major holidays, and at some other local events. The department also participates in the “Click It or Ticket” and “Over the Limit/ Under Arrest” national campaigns, which take place at the beginning and end of summer.
The sheriff’s department was approved for 660 blitz hours and 64 nonblitz hours, at a cost not to exceed $35,490.48, for federal fiscal year 2009.
The grant is administered by the Ohio Department of Public Safety.
