CLEARFIELD – The Lawrence Township Supervisors approved the conditional hire of two part-time police officers at their Tuesday night meeting.
Police Chief Mark Brooks recommended the hire of Tonya Marshall, currently a police officer at Brookville, and Shawn Kronenwetter of St. Mary’s, pending completion of background checks and evaluations.
Brooks said the department will be losing two officers over the next months that are leaving for other employment.
Brooks also reported on the completion of two traffic safety programs the department participated in.
Wave 2 of The Pennsylvania Aggressive Driving Enforcement and Education Project (PAADEEP) began March 23 and ended May 3. The first Aggressive Driving Wave was Oct. 26 through Nov. 22, 2014.
The project is a statewide initiative using crash data to identify aggressive driving locations, which are targeted with enforcement, public awareness and training to reduce aggressive driving accidents.
Brooks said during the program, the department had 90 related traffic stops and 55 citations in the township.
The focus for Wave 2 of PAADEEP was Distracted Driving, Work Zones Safety and Speeding. Wave 2 coincided with National Distracted Driving Month (April) and National Work Zone Awareness Week (March 31 to April 4).
The Buckle Up PA program ran from May 18 – May 31, Brooks said. He noted that seatbelt use violations are a second violation, in that a vehicle must be stopped for another violation before a seatbelt citation can be issued. He added that citations can be issued for front seat passengers not wearing seatbelts, and for children under five not properly restrained.
Brooks said that during the program the department had 95 stops for primary violations and 69 citations were issued for seatbelt violations.
Brooks reported that the department was awarded a grant of more than $1,700 for reimbursement of bullet-proof vests expense. The Bulletproof Vest Partnership (BVP) grant is an initiative of the U.S. Department of Justice through the Bureau of Justice Assistance.
Brooks also reported that officer Julie Curry has completed a five-day Crisis Intervention Training and is now also qualified to train other officers, adding that this will be a double benefit for the department.