GRANTS TO HELP POLICE ENFORCE SEAT BELT LAWS

NORMAN -- Police are preparing to spend $81,000 in grants to enforce seat
belt and child restraint laws as well as provide drug recognition training
to officers across the state. The Norman City Council officially accepted
the two grants in its regular meeting last week.

The grants are from the state Highway Safety office, and they will provide
funding through September 2003.

The seat belt and child restraint grant will provide $31,000 to the
department, and the training grant will total $50,000.

Police Chief Phil Cotten said during last week's council session that
accepting the seat belt grant does not mean officers will be establishing
check points.

Cotten said officers will use other tactics in their efforts to record a 90
percent compliance rate among Norman's drivers.

Norman has earned the seat belt and child restraint grant for three
consecutive years, Cotten said, but if 90 percent compliance is not reached
before 2005, then the funding could cease.

Police Lt. Jim Maisano said the state Highway Safety office has shown that
Cleveland County has the highest seat belt compliance rate (78 percent) of
any other metro area county. It also is higher than the Tulsa area's
compliance rate.

Maisano attributes the high ranking to Norman's efforts. He said Norman's
compliance rates were 76.2 percent two years ago, and they have increased
to 86.2 percent as of September.

Even though Norman police stopped setting up checkpoints because of an
overload of complaints and the city council's advice, the compliance rates
are continuing to climb.

Maisano said officers use "saturation patrols," a tactic in which four to
six officers watch drivers in a particular area. One officer may see a
driver not wearing a seat belt and radio to an officer ahead to make the stop.

The police lieutenant said some officers may only sit at a location and
take count of how many drivers are wearing their seat belts.

As for the child restraints, Maisano said police will use some of the money
to buy child seats for anyone who cannot afford one. Officers are also
prepared to give anyone interactions on how to properly restrain a child.

Maisano said the grant helps pay overtime wages to the officers who work so
the department can keep its regular force on the streets.

The grant related to drug recognition training will give the Norman Police
Department an opportunity to host officers from across the state. Maisano,
who has been the state's coordinator of the training since 1994, said the
program is geared toward helping officers better recognize the affects of
certain drugs.

"The state designed the program to apprehend drug-impaired drivers,"
Maisano said. "Officers become certified nationally as drug recognition
experts."

As part of the training, officers go through 72 hours of classroom training
before being sent to local jails to conduct evaluations of incoming prisoners.

After certification, the officers have better abilities to recognize what
drug is impairing a particular driver.

Maisano said the latest tests have shown that trained officers are 88
percent correct in assessing what drugs are impairing the drivers police
are stopping.

The police lieutenant said the ranking is especially impressive since
police do not expect to reach a 100 percent clip.

Maisano said he expects nearly 30 officers to come to Norman this year for
training.

Last year, 26 officers from 11 different departments were trained.

Maisano helps make the final cut for the training class. He said he
receives more applications than he has spaces, then he considers department
size.

"We'll look at their locations and the number of spaces available," Maisano
said. "We like to divide it up to have a majority of the state covered."

Sixteen departments in the state have officers who have completed the training.