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BOGALUSA, La. – The Bogalusa Police Department is the recipient of a grant from the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission focused on paying overtime for officers who work on DWI, Seatbelt Checkpoints and Juvenile Underage Drinking Enforcement (JUDE.) The grant amount of $43,650.00 is $4,860 less than it was last year.

Acting Chief of Police Percy Knight said that it is a recurring grant the department gets every year. “It’s important because it helps us get the impaired drivers off the street and it helps us make drivers aware of the importance of seatbelt use,” he said.

Several times throughout the year officers hold special waves, such as The Buckle Up in Your Truck, Click it or Ticket, Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over during the holiday seasons to prevent impaired driving and encourage seatbelt use. Aside from these special waves, there are numerous checkpoints held in the city.

“We do approximately 12 to 15 DWI and seatbelt checkpoints a year,” Knight said. The department also does what is called saturation patrol where officers will drive throughout the city looking for drunk drivers on the street.

The grant period is from October 1, 2023, through September 30, 2024.