A local police officer was among 142 law enforcement officers from 117 agencies across the Commonwealth who were honored Wednesday by the Kentucky Office of Highway Safety for their efforts to target impaired drivers.
Morganfield Police Officer Stefon Douglas was presented a 2015 Governor’s Impaired Driving Enforcement Award during a ceremony held at the Louisville Marriott East. The awards were presented to officers with the most impaired-driving arrests in each agency.
In addition to Officer Douglas, three more officers in the tri-county area were among the 142 law enforcement officers presented with the same award. Those officers are Hopkins County Sheriff’s Deputy Ryan Bailey, Kentucky State Police Post 16 Trooper Zack Jones and Kentucky State Police Post 2 Trooper Cody Kromer.
According to a release, Kentucky State Police Commissioner Rodney Brewer commended the aggressive enforcement and awareness efforts to keep roadways safe across the Commonwealth.
State officials indicate there were more than 43-hundred crashes involving alcohol in Kentucky in 2014, resulting in over 2-thousand injuries and 113 fatalities. There also were more than 14-hundred drug-related crashes, resulting in 939 injuries and 41 fatalities.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, one in three Americans will be impacted by a drunken-driving crash in their lifetime.