By Sgt. Jack Nash
PIO OCSO
OKEECHOBEE — Sheriff Noel Stephen is proud to announce that the Okeechobee County Sheriff's Office has been awarded three traffic safety grants from the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT). These grants will run from October 2025 through September 2026 and focus on:
• Occupant Protection and Child Passenger Safety;
• Impaired Driving; and,
• Speeding and Aggressive Driving.
The total award amounts to $150,000 for overtime enforcement and an additional $20,000 for new speed measurement equipment.
These FDOT grants are designed to assist local law enforcement agencies with funding for traffic enforcement and public safety education. These grants are funded by federal grant dollars that are distributed to FDOT, which then awards them to local law enforcement agencies. The goal is that traffic crash fatalities and serious injury crashes will be reduced in Okeechobee County through a combination of education and enforcement.
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Each year, Sgt. Steven Pollock of the OCSO Traffic Division applies for these grants and coordinates the various traffic details throughout the year. Deputies work these operations on their off days, earning overtime funded by the grants. This additional staffing increases the number of deputies on the road, enhancing Law Enforcement visibility and improving roadway safety for everyone in our community. These details are a significant benefit to Okeechobee County. A greater presence of Law Enforcement means more traffic enforcement on any given day.
During the most recent grant period (October 2024 – September 2025), OCSO deputies worked a combined 3,263 overtime hours, resulting in 99 arrests/criminal traffic citations, 3,667 citizen contacts/traffic stops, and the distribution of 3,209 educational traffic safety materials.
