Over the past several months, this column has examined five essential elements of a law enforcement traffic safety program: departmental policy and enforcement guidelines; training; recognition of officers who exhibit exemplary performance; educating the public on the important topics of seat belt, alcohol, and speed laws; and high-visibility enforcement. But for any traffic enforcement program, the evaluation of an agency’s operations and how they are implemented is an additional necessary component for maximizing effectiveness and efficiency.

This last element of a comprehensive law enforcement traffic safety program calls on agencies to examine how effective their efforts have been. This discussion has been guided by the judging criteria for the IACP National Law Enforcement Challenge. (In addition to the content-related judging points, which have been described in detail in this column, there is one other judging point, how well the agency’s application was assembled, which does not require further explanation.)