Chief Troy Lane, left, accepts UTPD’s award from Steve Dillard, senior law enforcement liaison for the Tennessee Highway Safety Office.

The UT Police Department has won a top award in a statewide law enforcement challenge for its traffic safety and education initiatives.

UTPD placed first in the university police category of the 2020 Law Enforcement Challenge, a program of the Tennessee Highway Safety Office. The category evaluated participants in six areas—effectiveness, enforcement, training, policy, education, and recognition of officers. Submission materials were compiled by Lt. Ralph Moles and Sgt. Angela O’Neal of UTPD’s Special Events unit.

This is the second year in a row that UTPD has won the first place award.

UTPD’s first place award.

Steve Dillard, senior law enforcement liaison for the Tennessee Highway Safety Office, recently presented the UTPD award to Chief Troy Lane.

In 2020, UTPD led 250 programs for the campus community—107 of which were related to education about the dangers of alcohol, drinking and driving, distracted driving, speeding, wearing seatbelts, and pedestrian and bicycle safety. The department also used its website, social media platforms and distributed materials to reach students.

Additionally, the department conducts quarterly analysis on traffic crashes in UTPD’s jurisdiction and tickets written by officers. The information is reviewed and shared with officers to ensure UTPD is focusing its traffic efforts in the right places.

The THSO Law Enforcement Challenge is supported by the Tennessee Association of Chiefs of Police and the Tennessee Sheriff’s Association. It gives Tennessee law enforcement agencies the opportunity to demonstrate how they promote traffic safety initiatives in the communities they serve. It also allows agencies to learn from one another’s practices and establish goals in traffic safety and education.

The Georgia Governor’s Office of Highway Safety judged all the Tennessee contest applications.