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Council accepts four NH Office of Highway Safety grants to fund targeted patrols
Summary
The council accepted four grants totaling $9,500 from the New Hampshire Office of Highway Safety to fund DUI, distracted-driving, high‑visibility mobilizations and speed enforcement patrols for the Merrimack Police Department.
The Merrimack Town Council on Aug. 21 approved acceptance and expenditure of four grants from the New Hampshire Office of Highway Safety to support targeted patrols: $1,600 for DUI enforcement, $2,600 for distracted‑driving enforcement, $3,700 for high‑visibility mobilizations (seatbelt/DUI/distracted driving), and $1,600 for speed enforcement.
Captain Eric Marquis (speaker 11) described planned patrols and past enforcement activity: the distracted‑driving patrols last year resulted in seven dedicated patrols with 82 warnings and 19 summons; speed‑enforcement patrols last year produced 73 warnings and 12 summons. On staffing, Marquis said the department has struggled to fill evening/weekend details that many of the grants fund and will attempt to staff them again this year; if they cannot, he said the town may request to reallocate funds to other grant efforts.
Tom Thornton moved to accept each grant and authorized the town manager to sign necessary documents; each motion carried 6‑0‑0. The council recorded multi‑year statistics for DWIs, distracted driving and speed enforcement to provide context for enforcement needs and grant use.
