WASHINGTON — The Maryland State Police have won three national awards for their efforts to reduce crashes and injuries on the state’s roads.
The state police placed first in the 2015 National Lew Enforcement Challenge for state police or highway patrol departments with 500 to 1,500 sworn members; a Special Category Award for commercial-vehicle safety efforts and The Clayton J. Hall Memorial Award for the most comprehensive traffic safety program.
“It was an honor to accept these awards on behalf of the dedicated troopers in the Field Operations Bureau,” Maryland State Police Superintendent Col. William Pallozzi said in a statement.
“While receiving this recognition is appreciated, our commitment to traffic safety is not to earn awards, but because we know the harder we work, the more impact we can have on reducing crashes, saving lives, and making our highways safer.”
The department wasn’t the only area winner:
- The Ashland, Virginia, Police Department placed second in the category of municipal departments with one to 25 officers.
- The Roanoke police and Roanoke county police placed first and second for municipal departments with 76 to 250 officers.
- It was a Virginia sweep in the category of municipal departments with 251 or more sworn officers: The City of Virginia Beach, Arlington County and Fairfax County departments comprised the top three, in order.
- The Stafford County Sheriff’s Office placed third among sheriff’s offices with 51 to 250 deputies, and also won a special-category award for traffic incident management.
- The University of Maryland police placed third among college and university police departments.
- The Fort Meade police topped the category of military police departments.
- The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority police placed second in the special law enforcement category.
- The Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police won the award for state associations or governor’s highway safety offices.
The National Law Enforcement Challenge is described by the International Association of Chiefs of Police as “a friendly traffic safety competition among law enforcement agencies,” run by the IACPO and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in partnership with the National Sheriffs’ Association, the Governors Highway Safety Association and the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators.
