The Athens County Sheriff's Department is taking steps this month to upgrade program enforcement and equipment with help from a $30,000 Selective Traffic Enforcement Program grant it received from the Ohio Department of Public Safety.

Grant money will be used to enforce traffic laws, such as DUI, speeding and seat belt laws, in an attempt to decrease traffic fatalities, said Deputy Sheriff's Lt. Pat Kelly.

Each year, the federal government allocates grant money to each state, and it then is awarded to departments throughout the state, said a spokesman for the public safety department.

In Ohio, the Department of Public Safety's Office of the Governor's Highway Safety Representative administers federal money to help address traffic safety problems at the state and local level.

The sheriff's department received the first grant installment Oct. 1 and will receive money through September 1998.

Grant money can be used for several purposes, including public information and education campaigns, supplies and materials, new program initiatives and applicable training, according to the public safety department Web site.

Use of grant money is left to the discretion of the department, Kelly said.

Of the department's total grant, $15,000 will go toward supplying and upgrading equipment, which includes radar equipment for all cruisers, cameras, tape recorders and flashlights, he said.

The remaining $15,000 will pay for increased enforcement of traffic laws. Grant money already is funding overtime pay for three extra patrol shifts per week, Kelly said.

These new shifts allow more officers to be on the road at different places and times, he said. The extra shifts will be valuable during "problem times," such as Halloween, July Fourth, holidays and after football games, he said.

People come into town, drink all night and think they can sleep it off and be sober enough to drive home the next morning, Kelly said. But their blood alcohol levels might still be high enough to be considered legally drunk, he said.

In Ohio, the illegal blood alcohol level for driving is .10 or more.

With increased shifts and patrols, the sheriff's department will be cruising the roads more often and anticipating these drivers, Kelly said.