TRAFFIC ENFORCEMENT
TRAFFIC UNIT
The Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office has a full-time Traffic Unit responsible for keeping the roads safe. The Traffic Unit consists of the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety H.E.A.T. (Highway Enforcement of Aggressive Driving) Unit and D.U.I. Task Force, and working alongside the Motorcycle Unit, Traffic Specialist Unit, K9 Unit, and a Traffic Response Vehicle.
The Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office is proud of its partnership with the Georgia Governor’s Office of Highway Safety (G.O.H.S.). In 2018, The Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office continued its H.E.A.T. Unit program and received a grant from the Governor’s Office for its enforcement and educational efforts. The G.O.H.S. H.E.A.T. Unit members aggressively target unsafe driving behavior in the areas of D.U.I., speeding, occupant protection, and distracted driving. The mission statement for the H.E.A.T. members is to reduce accidents, fatalities, and serious injuries through education and enforcement. The H.E.A.T. members work various schedules with different days and hours to target the most violators of unsafe driving behavior. The members participate in all state and national traffic safety campaigns. They also deploy across the state during H.E.A.T. mobilization, including “Rolling Thunder” and “100 Days of HEAT,” as well as conducting concentrated enforcement and checkpoints with other agencies and H.E.A.T. members. The H.E.A.T. members attend monthly Traffic Network meetings for education, networking, and enforcement to help keep our surrounding communities safe. The H.E.A.T. Officers are expected to be at the top of their game in all areas of traffic safety and continue training and education to maintain those expectations.
Not only do the H.E.A.T. members aggressively target unsafe driving violators, but they also spend time on educational efforts. The H.E.A.T. members are commonly requested to teach at schools, businesses, and community events to educate the public about Traffic Safety issues.
The Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office also has a D.U.I. Unit that essentially has the same goals and responsibilities as a H.E.A.T. member, just not attached to the grant. The H.E.A.T. and D.U.I. members work side by side to combat unsafe driving behavior.
MOTORS UNIT
The Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office also has a full-time Motor Unit. The agency understands the benefits of having a Motor Unit to enforce Traffic Laws. The Motor Unit is also tasked with aggressive traffic enforcement, targeting high traffic crash areas and complaints from citizens of traffic issues. The Motor Unit also oversees deploying “Speed Smart Trailers” and TraxxPro devices. These devices help the agency target dates and times to best focus on speed enforcement, as well as educating the public on speeding issues.
The Motor Unit is also responsible for funeral escorts and other special assignments.
TRAFFIC SPECIALIST UNIT
The Traffic Specialist Unit (TSU) of the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office was developed in June 2001, when the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office command thought there was a need for a specially trained team to investigate serious injury and traffic fatalities that occur within Forsyth County. Litigation often follows serious injury and fatal traffic crashes, so it was essential that well-trained professionals conduct these investigations. TSU Unit is also responsible for investigating hit and run crashes within Forsyth County.
Very well trained and experienced Deputies are assigned to the Traffic Specialist Unit. They consistently maintain their training and certifications. TSU has proven to be an asset to our agency. Since 2013, the Traffic Specialist Unit has investigated over 170 fatal and/or serious injury crashes and over 1400 hit and run crashes.
Traffic Specialist Deputies are equipped with numerous, state of the art, pieces of equipment. The unit utilizes a Total Station System, which is used to map a crash or crime scene to scale, a Bosch Crash Data Retrieval System, which retrieves crash data from an airbag module of a vehicle, and other critical investigative software and hardware tools. Most of this equipment was purchased with drug seizure funds, at no expense to taxpayers.
TRAFFIC RESPONSE VEHICLE (TRV)
The Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office Traffic Response Vehicle (TRV), much like the Georgia Department of Transportation’s HERO truck is designed to help residents with roadside problems. However, the FCSO Traffic Response Vehicle also enforces laws and issues citations as needed.
The TRV Unit patrols high-traffic county roads and provides roadside help during busy weekday rush hours. The TRV is equipped with many tools and equipment that would be needed for roadside assistance, like tools, jump boxes, cones, fire extinguisher, tow staps, gas, water, and more.
The Traffic Response Vehicle Unit also assists the other Traffic teams as needed.