Dalton Police Department Wins Mustang Patrol Car
Thursday, November 7th, 2024
The Dalton Police Department has a sleek new patrol vehicle in its fleet, and it didn't cost local taxpayers a dime.
Last month, the DPD's Traffic Enforcement Unit won a fully outfitted Ford Mustang police interceptor at the annual Governor's Office of Highway Safety (GOHS) Awards Banquet. The DPD finished 2nd in its class in the annual GOHS Governor's Challeng - and also was the lucky agency among more than 40 departments to draw the key that won the Mustang.
The Governor's Challenge program honors law enforcement agencies for their work to prevent crashes, injuries and deaths in their communities, college campuses and military installations. Designed to award outstanding achievements in highway safety enforcement and education, the awards recognize agencies for the approach and effectiveness of their overall highway safety programs. Agencies are evaluated not just for enforcement initiatives, but for unique problem-solving in their communities, using public information activities, and creating departmental policies that support their traffic enforcement campaign efforts.
Caption: Sergeant David Saylors poses with the DPD's new Ford Mustang interceptor and the agency's 2nd place trophy from the Governor's Challenge
The Dalton Police Department took 2nd place honors in the Governor's Challenge among agencies with 46-75 sworn officers. The DPD won the GOHS Occupant Protection Award for outstanding education and enforcement campaigns involving seat belts and child safety seats. The department has finished first in its classification in the Governor's Challenge on six different occasions and finished in the Top 3 in numerous other years.
The big win, of course, was the patrol car. Agencies that scored above 100 points in their Governor's Challenge applications were eligible for the award. From a group of 41 agencies, 10 were selected to have a representative on stage at the banquet to pick a key that would turn on a light bar on stage. Sergeant David Saylors of Dalton was the first to pick, and selected the winning key.
"Pretty much the only thing the department has to do is put insurance on it and put our agency lettering on it," Saylors said. "We will lead the Veteran’s Day Parade with it this Saturday which will really be the first public display of it. We’ve done a couple of community events with it, too, and we’ve had some wonderful conversations with the public about it and everyone’s enjoying it. They like it even more because it’s free."
The Mustang is the second patrol vehicle that the DPD's Traffic Unit has won from the Governor's Office of Highway Safety. The department also won a Chevrolet Tahoe patrol vehicle in 2020.
