Traffic Enforcement Mission Statement

"The Elbert County Sheriff's Office Safety Impact Team is committed to a Community Policing partnership to create a safer community by enforcing traffic safety laws, educating and assisting citizens in solving traffic problems and recommending traffic engineering changes."

Historical Perspective

The Elbert County Sheriff's Office's Safety Impact Team (SIT) was created in 2008 for the sole purpose of education, awareness, enforcement and training. The Safety Impact Team readily establishes itself as an integral part of the agency, and demonstrates the ability to modify the driving behavior of the motoring public by enhancing compliance with traffic laws.

While still a part of the Patrol Division, the Safety Impact Team functions independently of patrol scheduling, and operates under the command of a Safety Impact Team Lieutenant, who reports directly to the Chief of Operations for the Agency.

Responsibilities

The Safety Impact Team is responsible and accountable to the Elbert County Sheriff's Office Mission Statement. In general, the unit adheres to the time-tested principal of the "3 E's" of traffic safety: Engineering, Education, and Enforcement.

The Safety Impact Deputies are all "field operatives," that is to say that they all spend a majority of their time working the roads in your county. They are experts at recognizing and addressing traffic safety problems, and their sole responsibility is not focused on "just writing tickets." The Safety Impact Deputies frequently make recommendations regarding traffic engineering changes on your county roads, most often with the focus on redesigning problem areas to reduce the incidence of "problem" driving. Quite frequently they recommend/request additional or more obvious/explicit signage, roadway striping, or lighting to educate/engineer a problem away, rather than to enforce an unsafe or unclearly marked area.

Elbert County Safety Impact Team is also committed to an ongoing and serious public education effort, involving numerous team members. Some members are nationally certified School Resource Officers, Child Safety Restraint Technicians and spend a majority of their time in your schools teaching and counseling parents, young adults and children in the many areas of public safety, with a specific focus on child safety. The Traffic Impact Team teaches many different programs, such as the effects of Drinking and Driving, Bicycle Safety, Stranger Danger, Child Safety Restraint Systems and Fatal Vision.

The "Fatal Vision" Program targets grades 10th thru 12th. It encompasses in-class training as well as a practical portion. The Fatal Vision goggles are specifically designed to allow a sober person to see through the eyes of an intoxicated person. The Fatal Vision Goggles simulates different levels of intoxication. The Students get the opportunity to experience many different scenarios from roadsides maneuvers to driving a donated go-cart while using the Fatal Vision Goggles.

Traffic Deputies

The Safety Impact Team also provides a significant enforcement presence on the roadways in Elbert County. When not engaged in an investigation, these deputies focus on modifying driving behavior, addressing complaints, and saturating high traffic areas and areas that receive traffic complaints.

Traffic Trailer (Smart Trailer)

In August of 2009, the Elbert County Sheriff's Office received its first mobile radar trailer. The "Smart Trailer" was funded by a grant from the Colorado Department of Transportation. The "Smart Trailer" mobile radar trailers are frequently used in areas where traffic speed becomes a problem. The "Smart Trailer" is able to store down-loadable data internally so that the information can be reviewed and removed for purposes of data collection. Mobile radar devices have been shown to be highly effective in traffic control. .

The "Smart Trailer" displays the speed of oncoming vehicles for up to one mile. The range of the radar beam can be adjusted for city or county use. It is powered by three deep cell marine batteries, and can be run for 72 hours on a single charge.

The unit has been in numerous locations throughout the county.