The Turlock Police Department will continue their partnership with several local law enforcement agencies to help reduce alcohol related collision, as well as enter a new agreement to share offender data between agencies.
The Memorandum of Understanding between the Turlock Police Department, Ceres Police Department, Modesto Police Department, Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department, Oakdale Police Department, Newman Police Department, CSU Stanislaus Police Department, and Stanislaus County Probation Department was approved by Turlock City Council, although Councilmember Amy Bublak removed herself as she works for the Modesto Police Department.
All of the law enforcement agencies will work cooperatively to reduce alcohol related collision through the “Avoid the 12” grant.
“Avoid the 12” is a collaborative project, sponsored and funded by the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS), within Stanislaus County to reduce fatal and injury traffic collision that are alcohol related.
Per the MOU, participating agencies agree to provide staff, as available, to assist with project related enforcement activities. Activities include DUI checkpoints, as well as special events such as the Stanislaus County Fair and CSU Stanislaus graduation.
Local management of the “Avoid the 12” project rotates between the agencies, with the Ceres Police Department designated as the current local agency manager. The Turlock Police Department managed the program from October 2010 through September 2012.
“It’s been very successful,” said Turlock Police Chief Rob Jackson. “We think normally, other than the anomalies we’ve had this year in our community with the fatalities, those types of accidents have been on the decrease in our region."
The agreement has been in place for years and was in effect prior to the council’s decision, however, Chief Jackson said nothing has been done with the “Avoid the 12” as they waited for the decision.
The Turlock Police Department has also entered an agreement with the California Department of Justice (DOJ) for data sharing through “Smart Justice.”
Typically officers will have to run a suspect’s name through several databases to access their complete offender profile, however Smart Justice consolidates data from numerous sources into one program and makes that information available to law enforcement officials.
