Gurnee, IL – The Gurnee Police Department was recently notified by the Illinois Department of Transportation that a $43,835.00 grant has been awarded. This is the third year in a row the department has been awarded these highly competitive funds.

The grant funding, which comes from the Illinois Department of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will be utilized for specialized and focused traffic enforcement activities beginning October 1st 2010 through September, 30th 2011.

These additional enforcement actions will be conducted in order to remove drunk and drugged drivers from the roadways, increase safety belt and child restraint device use, and to slow down speeding motorists.

During the 2009-2010 grant years, when $27,665.00 was awarded, officers working these special enforcement efforts logged over 685 hours of enforcement time and wrote 688 citations.

During the month of May 2010, designated as “Click it or Ticket” month, all patrol officers focused heavily on safety restraint violations. During that one month alone, 542 safety belt and 47 child safety restraint citations were written.

“As part of our overall commitment to traffic safety, these additional enforcement activities are a vital component to help make our roadways safer for all who enjoy living in and visiting our community,” said Gurnee Police Chief Robert D. Jones.