COLUMBUS, Ind. — The Bartholomew County Sheriff Department and Columbus Police Department will receive a combined total of $20,000 in an Indiana Criminal Justice Institute grant to help fund overtime patrols to prevent reckless or intoxicated driving.
The grant is part of $6.5 million in traffic safety grants awarded to more than 200 police departments in Indiana’s 92 counties.
The law enforcement agencies will use this money to conduct “zero tolerance” overtime patrols and sobriety checkpoints. The first law enforcement blitz will begin around the Thanksgiving weekend. The Safe Family Travel campaign is designed to cut down on impaired driving and promote seat belt use during the holiday season, according to the institute.
But this first dedicated enforcement campaign comes with a twist. For the first time, police will utilize two different units as a team. One will be a police “spotter” watching for violations who can radio to a partner if speeding is detected.
In Indiana, traffic fatalities continue to exceed pre-pandemic levels. As of early October, a total of 683 people have been killed in crashes in the Hoosier state, preliminary data shows. Although this is around the same rate as in 2020, it represents a significant 8% increase from 2019.
The Columbus area has had more than its shares of fatalities in 2021. Capt. Dave Steinkoenig, road division commander at the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department, says the number of people killed locally is higher than average at this point in the year.
For more on this story, see Saturday’s Republic.
