The Governor’s Office of Highway Safety has announced that the Newton County Sheriff’s Office is one of 26 law enforcement agencies in Georgia to receive a Highway Enforcement of Aggressive Traffic grant for the Federal 2025 Fiscal Year. Referred to as a H.E.A.T. grant, the Newton County Sheriff’s Office’s award totals $141,753.60.

The goal of the H.E.A.T. program is to combat crashes, injuries and fatalities caused by impaired driving and speeding, while also increasing seatbelt use and educating the public about traffic safety and the dangers of DUI.

The Newton County Sheriff’s Office H.E.A.T Unit will use the grant from GOHS to develop and implement strategies to reduce local traffic crashes due to aggressive and dangerous driving behaviors.

“Federal and state crash data show sustained enforcement of traffic laws reduces crashes and saves lives on our roads,” Allen Poole, Director of the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety said.  “GOHS will continue to partner with state and local law enforcement to implement projects and initiatives designed to protect everyone using our roads and to help reach our goal of zero traffic deaths in Georgia and our nation.”

H.E.A.T. grants fund specialized traffic enforcement units in counties throughout the state. The program was designed to assist Georgia jurisdictions with the highest rates of traffic crashes, injuries and fatalities with grants awarded based on impaired driving and speeding data.

Sheriff Ezell Brown stated, “The Newton County Sheriff’s Office has benefited from the H.E.A.T grant awarded by The Governor’s Office of Highway Safety since year 2017. The grant funds have aided us in reducing the traffic fatalities each year and has provided the tools necessary to go after drunk drivers and traffic violators. 

As law enforcement partners in the Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over DUI campaign and the Click It Or Ticket seatbelt campaigns, the Newton County Sheriff’s Office will also conduct mobilizations throughout the year in coordination with GOHS’s year-round waves of high visibility patrols, multi-jurisdictional road checks and sobriety checkpoints.

For more information about the H.E.A.T. program or any other GOHS campaign, visit www.gahighwaysafety.org or call 404-656-6996.