GTPD Wins Rutgers Traffic Safety Award

Gloucester Township Police Department on Monday issued the following press release regarding the Traffic Safety Excellence Award it recently received from Rutgers:

On Oct. 24, 2012, the Gloucester Township Police Department was awarded the Traffic Safety Excellence Award by the Rutgers University Center for Advanced Infrastructure and Transportation for its approach to traffic enforcement. This award was presented at the 7th annual New Jersey Traffic Safety Forum in West Windsor, NJ. The Gloucester Township Police Department was selected as the winner from amongst numerous law enforcement agencies, engineering firms, and safety organizations because of the development of a comprehensive Traffic Complaint Management (TCM) System utilized to address traffic related complaints while keeping the community informed.

The TCM system consists of systematically documenting the complaint, a minimum 10-year historical review of citizen complaints for the specified area, traffic crashes that have occurred in the area, police enforcement action, and community education. Upon review of this historical data, a speed measuring device is deployed to determine the number of vehicles traveling on the highway and their average speed. Specially trained officers in traffic engineering are then detailed to the area to complete a Safety Area Review which evaluates safety conditions in the region including road signage, highway markings, street lighting, view obstructions, and more. The investigation process entails involving the Township Engineer when significant traffic safety road conditions are discovered and warrant the review of a professional engineer.

The TCM system produces detailed information regarding each complaint which most commonly involves drivers speeding. This information helps to determine the appropriate police response to a complaint which may include deploying officers for traffic enforcement, deployment of specialized equipment such as speed display boards, engineering changes, additional safety signage, local ordinance recommendations, and community education including traffic safety messages and information. Since implementing the TCM system in 2004, officers have been deployed more efficiently which has assisted with increasing the issuance of speeding related summonses by 122 percent.

“I am so proud of all the men and women of the Gloucester Township Police Department for the hard work they do every day in making this award possible, and also thankful to the community for their ongoing commitment in partnering with us to receive police related information including traffic safety and road closure information via our notification system and social media”, said Chief Harry Earle.