The Mahoning County Sheriff's Office received two grants for 2024 for safe communities and traffic safety.

The Ohio Department of Public Safety awarded the sheriff's office $71,500 in Safe Communities and $85,813 in Federal Traffic Safety Grants. 

Safe Communities funds are used for projects like traffic safety education, enforcement, and engineering.

Sheriff Jerry Greene said, "The Traffic Safety funds are critical to ensuring that we are doing everything possible to keep our community safe."

"Based on crash data, we have identified speed, impaired driving, texting while driving and seat belt use as a priority for Mahoning County and are pleased to work with our partners at the state level to address this safety issue," Greene added.

The sheriff said a significant percentage of serious crashes involved young drivers, alcohol, unbelted drivers and passengers, texting while driving, and excessive speed.

With the funds, Greene said his department will be able to conduct high visibility enforcement, working overtime hours. 

This year the Traffic Safety grant funding has been awarded in two formats, the Impaired Driving Enforcement Program ($38,226) and the STEP-Selective Traffic Enforcement Program ($47,587).