Police department to get two safety grants

Laguna Beach will receive two grants from the California Office of Traffic Safety, according to city documents.

Earlier this year, the police department applied for the grants. The first grant of $90,000 will go toward overtime so the department can increase staffing for drunk driving and traffic safety issues. It will also go to the DUI checkpoint trailer and travel expenses for staff to attend training and courses related to traffic safety issues.

A second grant of $37,000 will go toward overtime for enforcement staff during three DUI checkpoints in 2013 and equipment and supplies needed for the checkpoints.

The grants start Oct. 1 and end Sept. 30 of next year.

Drunk driving is an issue important to the city, the staff report reads, with 645 DUI arrests in 2011. The city also reports there were 59 DUI-related traffic collisions in 2011, which resulted in 13 injured people.

—Joanna Clay