Grant Aimed At Braking Drunk Drivers Post Falls Police Department Awarded $90,000 For Program

The Post Falls Police Department has been awarded nearly $90,000 in grant money to help slow the number of drinking and driving accidents in the city.

Two-thirds of the money will be used to buy equipment and continue a program that dedicates an officer to drunken-driving enforcement, said Post Falls police Lt. Scot Haug. The remaining money will be used to pay other officers to work overtime to search for drunken drivers, buy a public service announcement and pay for training.

Police hope the money will sustain the momentum generated by the emphasis on spotting drunken drivers that started a year ago. Officers saw a 40 percent drop in injury, alcohol-related accidents within the city limits during 1997, Haug said.

Last year, the department received a $29,200 grant from the state Office of Highway Safety to designate one officer to drunken-driving education and enforcement. This year’s grant of $89,495 more than triples that amount.

Both grants were paid for by federal money that is allocated by the state agency.

Despite the success of last year’s drunken driving emphasis, the city’s drivers still have a way to go.

For the second year in a row, Post Falls had the most injury, alcohol-related accidents per 1,000 residents of an city its size in Idaho, Haug said.

A continued high number of alcohol-related accidents in unincorporated areas surrounding Post Falls and on Interstate 90 helped boost the city’s totals, he said.

“We want to continue what we did last year because it seems to be working” within the city limits, Haug said.

Spending more time looking for “risky drivers” also should help slow the city’s accident rate, Haug said. Among the drivers he classified as risky are speeders and reckless drivers.

To that end, the department has ordered a laser radar unit and four in-car video cameras.

The Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department also has received a highway-safety grant to fight traffic and drunken driving problems. The $55,500 grant will pay for two traffic officers for the third consecutive year.