Grant pays overtime to patrol peak traffic times

High traffic and holiday weekends come with an increased crash risk, but a state grant aims to help crack down on problem behavior to reduce risk.

Police departments, sheriff’s offices and county authorities in Lake, Lincoln, and Flathead counties received more than $194,000 recently as part of the state’s Selective Traffic Enforcement Program and Buckle Up Montana program.

The STEP program provides funding for officers to work overtime hours focused solely on patrol. It allows officers to stop people who are speeding, suspected of drinking and driving, or not wearing their seatbelts.

“I would say that STEP shifts generate about 50 percent of our traffic violations,” Columbia Falls Police Chief Dave Perry said. “The other interesting fact is that Montana Department of Transportation has identified Highway 2 between West Glacier and Kalispell as a high crash corridor.”

High traffic, terrain and a tendency to not follow the speed limit often contribute to crashes along the corridor, Perry said. Columbia Falls received $16,000 for extra patrol. The department has received the grant annually for a dozen years.

“You get good results because they aren’t interrupted by other calls,” Perry said.

Law enforcement officials use the grants strategically on high traffic weekends where crash probability is higher, Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry said.

“Labor Day, Memorial Day, the big weekends where studies have shown that there is an increase in traffic or an increase in drinking and driving is when they patrol,” Curry said. “I think it is certainly a help. Anything we can do to provide increased patrols is a great thing.”

Kalispell Police Department plans to use some of the $36,000 it received to increase patrol, Patrol Capt. Tim Falkner said.

“Especially when we have a higher volume of traffic, it helps supplement our patrol units tremendously,” Falkner said. “It allows us extra people on the street during special events, like the fair that brings thousands of extra people into the city.”

In addition to the STEP grants, Flathead City-County Health Department received $40,000 for the BuckleUP Montana Program. The program encourages people to wear their seat belts and provides child car seat inspections to help reduce chance of death in event of a crash.