Education a key component of initiative, officer tells City Commission
Once again, the Sarasota Police Department (SPD) has received a “High Visibility Enforcement” grant from the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) to facilitate the department’s efforts to improve pedestrian and bicyclist safety.
On an Aug. 4 motion made by Sarasota City Commissioner Kathy Kelley Ohlrich, seconded by Commissioner Jen Ahearn-Koch, the grant funds of $21,384.92 — with no match required — formally were added to the city’s budget for the 2025-26 fiscal year, which will begin on Oct. 1.
The vote was unanimous.
The high-priority areas that officers will focus on with this latest funding will be as follows:
- U.S. 41 from Webber Street to Hibiscus Street.
- U.S. 41 from Arlington Street to Bahia Vista Street.
- U.S. 301/North Washington Boulevard from 10th Street to Myrtle Street.
- The area of Central Avenue and Main Street from Mira Mar Court to Fifth Street.
- North Tamiami Trail from 10th Street to 42nd Street.
- Fruitville Road from Lockwood Ridge Road to Midwest Parkway.
- Tuttle Avenue from Belvoir Boulevard to Sixth Street.
A July 14 memo from SPD Chief Rex Troche to the commissioners and interim City Manager Dave Bullock — which was included in the agenda packet for the commission’s regular meeting on Aug. 4 — explained that the grant will reimburse the agency “for overtime work performed [by] designated, trained, sworn officers … during FDOT-assigned hours.”
The grant agreement between FDOT and the Police Department requires the officers who will be involved in the program to complete a four-hour training course, which covers best practices in law enforcement regarding bicycle and pedestrian laws. Further, it stipulates that no officer may work more than eight hours “of reimbursable overtime in any single day …”
Troche noted in the memo, “The campaign is a component of Florida’s Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety High Visibility Enforcement and Support Program, in agreement with the Institute of Police Technology Management (IPTM), implemented by the University of North Florida under the direction of [FDOT], with funding from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA).”
Importance of the initiative in the city
Before making her motion, Ohlrich did ask for “a very brief presentation on the grant itself because bicycle and pedestrian safety are so important to our citizens.”
Deputy City Manager Patrick Robinson asked that SPD Traffic Officer Jason Frank and Ben Billingsley, a staff member of the agency’s Finance Department, come to the table facing the commission dais.
Frank then told the commissioners, “This is about our seventh or eighth year” of conducting the High Visibility Enforcement (HVE) initiative. (A search through files found that the first time The Sarasota News Leader published an article about an HVE grant for the Police Department was in September 2018.)
Frank added, “The data is discovered through [FDOT], based on high-crash locations. We do not choose the areas. The state does, based on time of day; based on rates of crashes, injuries [and] whether they be serious or fatal.”
He showed the commissioners a map illustrating the locations for the latest HVE initiative in the city.
On average, Frank continued, SPD officers are on the road an extra 500 hours a year, “based on the amount of funding that we get from the state through this contract.”
The more money the Police Department receives through an HVE grant, he pointed out, the higher the number of officers dedicated to the program and the more hours those officers can work.
Officers educate pedestrians, bicyclists and motor vehicle operators, he said. “One of the biggest things — and you said it yourself,” he told Ohlrich — “is bicycle [and] pedestrian safety in our city. We strive to make sure that the number of serious-injury and fatal crashes [is reduced] each and every year.”
Then Frank explained, “I would be remiss if I didn’t say that we do see certain individuals in the city violating our pedestrian laws, failing to use crosswalks properly, darting and dashing outside of the parked cars on Main Street. But we do our best to reduce that number.”
When Ohlrich asked him how the education of pedestrians and bicyclists occurs, he replied, “We in the Traffic Unit will go out and work the [designated] areas. What we do is we look for common errors, common mistakes,” such as individuals who fail to use crosswalks properly.
For example, Frank continued, “We may go and stand on a corner and work the traffic light for pedestrians. If we see vehicles failing to yield to pedestrians who are in the crosswalk, halfway across, we will conduct traffic stops, make contact with the drivers and educate [them]. If we see bicyclists who are overtaking lanes when there is a bicycle lane available,” he added, “we will educate [them].”
Frank pointed out, “The more people we can contact, the greater our responsibility in lowering the number of serious-injury and fatal crashes.”
When Ohlrich asked whether the grant terms lay out how the education should be conducted, Frank told her, “No.” Police Department personnel know the serious locations in the city, he added. “We know what to look for,” based on the number of years the agency has been involved in the program.
A prime example, he noted, is the area of Washington Boulevard and Fruitville Road, between Sixth Street and Fruitville. “We see a lot of people crossing diagonally from Sixth to the corner where the Walgreens is,” he said. “Why do they do that? Creatures of habit.” Frank added, “What we do is we’ll go out and wait and catch them before they cross diagonally. And we will re-educate them on the importance of staying on the sidewalk, pushing the button [for the crossing light and] walking across the street safely.”
“Gotcha,” Ohlrich responded.
Both Ohlrich and Ahearn-Koch thanked Frank for his remarks.
No other board members had questions for Frank or Billingsley.