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MILNER'S ASSISTANT POLICE CHIEF IS REGIONAL TRAFFIC ENFORCEMENT NETWORK COORDINATOR
BY: Sherri Ellington, Barnesville Herald-Gazette
Milner assistant police chief Benji Strange is the district coordinator for the Central Georgia Traffic Enforcement Network.
Sgt. Strange---who does double duty at the Upson County Sheriff’s Office in Thomaston—is in charge of traffic enforcement and awareness programs in Lamar, Spalding, Butts, Monroe, Pike, Crawford, Taylor, and Upson Counties. These include Click It or Ticket, Operation Zero Tolerance, and 100 Days of Summer HEAT, which has an emphasis on speeding. It will run May 24 (Memorial Day) through Sept. 6 (after Labor Day) and encompass the other two programs focusing on seat belt use and driving under the influence.
This will target the three factors contributing to accident fatalities in Georgia—speeding, DUI, and lack of seat belt use. Studies show 29 people a week die in accidents on Georgia highways, or 1,600 a year. This is higher than the state’s murder rate.
HEAT stands for Highway Enforcement of Aggressive Traffic. Officers from more than 500 police agencies will focus on speeding in an effort to cut down high-risk driving habits.
Non-belted drivers will be ticketed and impaired drivers jailed. There will be roadblocks and concentrated patrols on interstates, secondary corridors and local highways.
As the program winds down, another will wind up—a regional Hands Across the Border effort covering Georgia, Alabama, Florida, North and South Carolina and Tennessee.
To handle these programs, the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety created sixteen regional traffic enforcement networks covering all 159 counties. They are made up of local and state traffic enforcement officers and prosecutors in each region.
“They asked me to do it, and I agreed,” said Strange. “I’ve always enjoyed traffic enforcement.”
Each network has a coordinator and assistant coordinator---Strange’s is state trooper John McMillan of Griffin---who are full time law enforcement officers volunteering their time and efforts to improve highway safety.
“We meet monthly to provide information, training and networking,” Strange said.
Prosecutors, judges, and nontraditional traffic enforcement agencies such as the Departments of Natural Resources, Motor Vehicle Safety and Corrections and military police often attend and offer assistance for training and initiatives.
“The dedicated support from their officers, their agencies, and department heads are unsurpassed,” he said.
The networks are used to efficiently mobilize law enforcement statewide for traffic enforcement initiatives.
“They’ve become an outstanding training and communication tool,” Strange said.
The aim is to reduce the high number of mortality crashes on Georgia highways by going after speeders and targeting aggressive drivers who are impaired or do not use safety belts or child safety seats.
"We want to increase public awareness of the number of lives that could be saved if people would simply slow down and obey the rules of the road," Strange said.
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