Police Department's SOS Receives Grant

The Atlanta Police Department Special Operations Section has been awarded a grant from the State of Georgia that will assist in making the highways a safer place to travel.

The grant is in the amount of $239,400 and will be used through Sept. 30, 2009. The grant is to assist the Department's SOS Division with a traffic safety initiative and to strongly enforce driving under the influence.

APD has a Highway Enforcement Aggressive Traffic Unit (HEAT) that is responsible for traffic safety and the enforcement of driving under the influence. The HEAT Unit has made a significant impact as they made over 1,200 DUI cases as well as an additional 16,000 traffic cases last year. The officers in the unit have specialized training in the field of traffic enforcement and driving under the influence.

The APD HEAT Unit was named HEAT Unit of the year in 2005 as well as 2007. They have also been recognized on the state and national levels as a unit within the past five years by receiving numerous awards. Several officers have been recognized with officer of the year awards in addition to the awards received by the unit.