Oskaloosa Police Department Recognized For Efforts To Stop Impaired Drivers

Oskaloosa Police Officer Nick Landgrabe works a traffic stop in the city of Oskaloosa on Saturday night.

Oskaloosa, Iowa – Oskaloosa Police Officer Nick Landgrebe puts on his bulletproof vest and prepares to enforce traffic laws as part of a GTSB, or Governors Traffic Safety Bureau, grant.

The grant money allows officers to work overtime shifts to enforce Iowa’s traffic laws, and address impaired drivers on the roadway.

This past week, the Oskaloosa Police Department was presented the Farrell/Puente-Morales Award by the GTSB in honor of Des Moines police officers Susan Farrell and Carlos Puente-Morales.

The officers were killed by an impaired driver who was driving the wrong direction on I-80.

The award is presented annually to a law enforcement agency that displays a strong emphasis on stopping impaired driving throughout the year.

Oskaloosa was nominated by Todd Olmstead saying, “The Oskaloosa Police Department is a small agency that quite frankly is having a huge impact on traffic safety in Iowa.”

Olmstead goes on to say the department “not only met their agency goals that were set by our office but exceeded them in a way I have never seen in my short time here at GTSB.”

The Oskaloosa Police Department had an alcohol contact every 3.8 hours while participating in the program during 2017. The department also averaged 2.48 traffic contacts per GTSB hour.

“Considering the size of their agency and the population of their community there is no doubt that they are having an incredible impact on not only impaired driving but traffic safety in general. This is evident by the fact that they had zero OWI fatalities within the city of Oskaloosa in fiscal year 2017,” Olmstead said.

Officer Landgrebe finished the night with several traffic stops, which included faulty equipment, open containers, and one DWI arrest.