|
A Message from the District Attorney...
Dear Friends and Neighbors:
You spoke, and we heard you.
During my first year as District Attorney, I listened to your repeated pleas about unsafe conditions on the roads, how you don't feel safe driving to work or taking your kids to their after-school activities.
These concerns were the motivation for my new traffic safety initiative, conducted in partnership with the New York State Police, named D.A.S.H., which stands for District Attorney's Safer Highways.
The aim of the initiative is to increase patrols on our county's most significant arteries, beginning with the Sprain Brook Parkway and I-684, to detect unsafe and reckless driving before a crash occurs.
Earlier this month, we rolled out the D.A.S.H. program at a press conference with Troop K Major Daniel P. Smith and road safety advocate Carole Sears, and in its earliest days the program has yielded tangible results.
Within the initiative's first week, our State Police partners made two significant D.A.S.H.-related arrests on the highway: in one incident, a Mahopac man is accused of pointing a loaded gun at a bus carrying students with special needs; and just one day prior, state troopers assigned to D.A.S.H. arrested a parolee from Bristol, Conn., and charged him with Reckless Driving.
The increased State Police presence on the highways has led to an enforcement blitz against all manner of unsafe driving. Last week, on the Sprain Brook Parkway alone, troopers issued approximately 438 tickets as part of the D.A.S.H. surge.
These enforcement actions were made possible by the significant, additional resources that have been mobilized by our State Police partners to support safer highways in Westchester.
We will continue to provide updates on the D.A.S.H. initiative's progress through the end of the month. But I am already pleased to see that the program is taking dangerous motorists off our highways, making them safer for the rest of us to use.
On a separate note, February is Black History Month, and my office was honored to host acclaimed author and historian Joyce Sharrock Cole for a lively discussion about the forgotten Black trailblazers of Westchester County.
Black history is American history, and we can commemorate our shared heritage by uplifting the voices and contributions of Black Americans whose perspectives have been omitted from the historical ledger.
I look forward to sharing more about our Black History Month programming this month. As always, do not hesitate to reach out with any questions or concerns. I always appreciate hearing directly from you.
| 
