A national award is assisting in a project to keep Cannon County youth safe. Using grant funds from the Governor’s Highway Safety Office the Woodbury Police Department recently purchased a new golf cart. This golf cart isn’t likely to spend any time on the greens however. The cart will be used along with vision goggles and traffic cones which were also purchased with grant funds. This will allow students at the Cannon County High School to give them a “hands on” experience of what it is like to drink and drive. There are different goggles which portray different alcohol levels. Students will wear the goggles and drive through an obstacle course on the golf cart using both night and day vision goggles.
According to Chief Burnett, “I am excited about this. Last year we used the goggles and went to the different English classes and conducted field sobriety tests. The students and teachers seemed to enjoy it. This year we received an extra $5,000.00 due to a national award. Chief Burnett is a Network Coordinator in the Upper Cumberland Region along with four other officers and the region was selected by the International Association of Chiefs of Police to receive the award. Chief Burnett is in San Diego today, November 11th, to receive the award.
Chief Burnett explained, “I knew immediately what we were going to do upon receiving the money. We are losing too many young people to alcohol related crashes and also failure to use seatbelts. Our department wants to be proactive in our approach to lower alcohol related crashes and encouraging students to wear seat belts. This program will also be available to the public.
The Woodbury Police Dept. has received a total of approximately $148,000.00 in grant funding in the last three years. This money has allowed the department to equip all six patrol units with camera’s, radars, flashlights, reflective rain coats, vests, and also overtime spent on programs of the Governor’s Highway Safety Office. We have also used the money to equip patrol units with blue lights and striping. The department also received computers for every patrol unit this week which were also bought using grant funding.
The Police Department would like to thank Gary Hibdon of Hibdon’s Body Shop who designed and installed the striping on the golf cart at no cost.