The Arizona Department of Public Safety (AZDPS) has been awarded over $1,494,000 in grant funding from the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety (GOHS). The grants will provide funding for troopers and dispatchers during critical education and enforcement operations such as impaired driving (DUI) details, distracted driving enforcement details, seatbelt enforcement details and the street racing task force.

A significant portion of the funds will facilitate the transition of traffic enforcement records to cloud-based systems, providing reporting and analytics to support highway safety, collision reduction, DUI enforcement and resource deployment.

Funds will also be directed to the training of additional Drug Recognition Experts (DRE), the purchase of vehicular crimes equipment to support collision investigations, as well as to the state crime labs for the purchase of materials and supplies, including breath alcohol instruments.

GOHS has allocated grant funds in support of these programs:  

• $965,350 for Traffic Records Enforcement Upgrades
• $150,000 for Selective Traffic Enforcement Program & Materials
• $136,000 for DUI Enforcement
• $79,356 for the State Crime Lab
• $43,502 for Vehicular Crimes Investigation Equipment & Software
• $35,000 for Seatbelt Enforcement Details
• $30,000 for the Street Racing Task Force
• $25,000 for DRE Training, Materials & Supplies
• $20,000 for Distracted Driving Enforcement
• $10,000 for Dispatch Support for DUI & Street Racing Enforcement

“The grant money given to the Department by GOHS helps in many areas of law enforcement with special emphasis on training, recordkeeping and enhancing our vehicle crimes investigations, just to name a few,” said Lt. Col. Jenna Mitchell, Assistant Director of the Highway Patrol Division.