The Guilford County Sheriff’s Department has been awarded two grants totaling $245,500 – thanks to the Governor’s Highway Safety Program – to help keep drunk, high and distracted drivers off the roads.
The first grant will provide 25 percent of the funding required for an ongoing DWI Taskforce of five Sheriff’s Department officers, including one who’ll serve as the “DWI Educator” for the county.
The team also includes two High Point police officers.
According to the Sheriff’s Department, the total annual cost of that program is just over $682,000 and this is the 13th year of the funding.
The two programs are primarily meant to address “traffic-related issues such as unrestrained drivers, children, speeding, and motorist driving while impaired, and [the program] offers community education on these issues.”
The funding helps pay the salaries of the taskforce members, as well as pay for alcohol blood testing kits and training and travel costs for members.
The second award provides half of the funding needed to continue two additional Guilford County multi-agency DWI Taskforce members.
The total annual cost of that program is $189,440. The federal funding for second award is $94,720, while the local funds are $94,720, paid for by Guilford County. This program funds two deputy sheriff positions and other operating expenses for the officers.
This is the sixth year the county has received this grant funding.
The awards will end September 30, 2023, and the positions funded by the awards are time-limited, subject to available grant funds.
The Sheriff’s Department intends to seek additional federal funds to continue the programs up and running beyond that date.
They are targeting ” unrestrained drivers, children, speeding, and motorist (sic) driving while impaired”.
So really it’s just a war on motorists.
* Dare to drive unbelted? Gotcha!
* Dare to exceed the absurdly low speed limit? Gotcha!
* Dare to stop for a couple of beers on the way home? Gotcha!
They use the fig leaf of drunk driving to hide the real purpose of these programs because they know that issue polls well with the public. But it’s actually just the Left’s latest installment in its war on the private automobile.
The Left resents and despises your car – because it’s your freedom. They’d much prefer to herd us like cattle onto “Public Transportation”.
The Left will continue to make driving as frustrating, costly, inconvenient and aggravating as they can – and any excuse will do (‘Climate’ anyone?).
You can make a cow dropping patties in the pasture about “The Left”. What a joke.
And yet it’s so true that you can’t refute any of it.
There are key points in this story the reader should pick up on. The program is six years old. It started before the present administration when the sheriffs office was not depleted because of manpower shortages. The second point the grant only pays 25% of the manpower cost now, it paid for all of it when the program began. The grant pays a partial payment for two High Point Officers and requires one of the positions of the five be an educator. The educator position is justifiable even though the sheriffs office is finding itself with a dangerous level of lack of manpower. In the beginning the educator made the rounds of our schools and the program we developed was utilized across the state. I hope that is still the case. The question now, is this the most effective use of the funds and the manpower? I say yes on the educator, but no on the enforcement side. Four officers in a county of a half million people is like a teardrop in the ocean. The money would be better spent in educating all the officers and allowing them to be be pro-active in enforcing traffic laws would better serve the community. DWI fatalities among teens are increasing after decreasing in the past several years, so educating our young and old is important.
Use the new money given to Sheriff’s office to buy more unmarked police cars and hire more officers. Put a car on every other street, especially high crime areas and race-track streets. ENFORCE the laws and Increase the penalty for lawbreakers. This will offer more protection where needed, bring in more $ for operation and have a positive effect on stopping crime. Let the lawbreakers pay their costs for crimes. There will be enough of taxpayers’ $ to pay for other needed and appreciated services.
Lots of tax dollars at work….when will the sheriff start to work upholding current laws on the books?
Why don’t we have more road checks to catch people without insurance and drivers licenses and outstanding warrants?
This isn’t about drunk driving, it’s about the unconstitutional pulling over of drivers to look into your private space for no cause to see if you are wearing a seatbelt. to see if you are using a cell phone, to do license and registration checks, or to see if your child is properly restrained. I object to DWI checkpoints as they constitute illegal search and seizure.
What do you suggest?
Deborah is absolutely right. In a genuinely free country the armed agents of the state have no right to detain you as you peacefully go about your business.
All these rules, speed restrictions, regulations and requirements exist so that any citizen can be arbitrarily pulled over by a cop, and he can then embark on a “fishing expedition” to see what he can find.
I hear you. But I would watch a training video on YouTube before I acted out on an Officer. Just go to YouTube and type in “ Obey the law “. Then watch the first video that loads up. Good training video.
I’m not at all suggesting that anyone should resist the requests of a law enforcement officer.
Driving is a privilege not a constitutional right. As a privilege, certain laws are enacted to protect that privilege for all drivers. For the privilege, vehicle owners are required to carry insurance to protect other drivers. For the privilege, vehicles must be properly and currently registered. For the privilege, all drivers of vehicles must have a valid driver’s license. Yet, with these requirements, if a driver is stopped for speeding and the driver’s license is not valid, action other than speeding ticket is issued. The same is true for registration and insurance. If the public wants fair and judicious application of the privilege to drive laws, then there must be an immediate consequence for breaking the laws. Other than DUI, I do not know of any in NC, certainly not in Greensboro and Guilford County.
Well, I guess we need to hire Sheriff Hege.
Ha, ha, ha…. good one!
What happened to that guy anyway?
Need 5 Spider Cars asap….