KELSEYVILLE – The California Highway Patrol's Clear Lake area office has won a state award for its work to increase compliance with seat belt laws.

The office won the California Law Enforcement Challenge's award for occupant protection, said CHP Officer Adam Garcia.

The Clear Lake office – which has 25 sworn officers – won the statewide honor competing in a division of departments officers numbering between 11 and 25, said Garcia.

The competition's purpose, said Garcia, is to reward agencies that reduce fatalities on the state's roadways, with particular focus placed on occupant protection, driving under the influence and speeding laws.

Six out-of-state law enforcement judges came to the CHP Academy this year for five days to score competition submissions, which were divided by category and size, said Garcia.

The judges themselves were divided into three groups of two and worked in teams to score the submissions, using an objective scoring method for the enforcement section and subjective scoring on other categories, he explained.

The judges scored the departments by comparing three-month periods in 2006 and 2007 and looking at improvement, said Garcia.

The Clear Lake CHP office won for occupant restraint usage, which improved from 96.3 percent in 2006 to 96.7 percent in 2007, Garcia said.

The local CHP office showed a major increase in enforcement, said Garcia. During the three-month period judges examined, in 2006 there were 252 citations for seatbelt-related violations, and 394 citations in the same three-month period a year later.

Department officials attribute the increase in restraint usage to enforcement and community education and outreach, including child safety checkpoints, education and training classes. Garcia said CHP also has conducted talks at schools and carried out an overall effort to get the word out to people that they need to buckle up.

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