For the second year in a row, Cornell's Police Department has won the New York State Law Enforcement Challenge award for police agencies employing 26 to 50 officers. Sergeant Chuck Howard will accept the award on the department's behalf at the Empire State Law Enforcement Traffic Safety Conference, April 19.

Winning the state award automatically puts Cornell Police in the national Law Enforcement Challenge, sponsored by the International Association of Chiefs of Police.

"Along with the energy we have been able to sustain again this year around traffic safety, we were recognized for our creative outreach and public relations efforts," said Curtis Ostrander, director of Cornell Police. Those efforts include seat-belt and child-safety seat checks, speed and impaired driving enforcement policies and displays, demonstrations and brochures at key university events. "The recognition that comes with this award speaks to the longstanding dedication of the Cornell University Police to the welfare of the Cornell community," Ostrander said.

Since 2001, Cornell Police report, the percentage of people driving on campus who wear seat belts has risen to 91 percent, up from 69 percent, thanks in part to the "Click It or Ticket" program held the week before spring break for the past six years. This program includes campuswide checkpoints, educational materials and discounts on Cornell ice cream to those who comply.

"Too many people take the attitude that a bad accident will never happen to them, especially on campus," Howard said. "We take seat-belt compliance very seriously here." The last recorded person injured in a car crash while not wearing a seat belt occurred in 2003.

Other high-visibility programs include an anti-aggressive driving campaign; increased patrolling to prevent drinking and driving during such weekends as Homecoming and the beginning and ending of semesters; and participation in the National Stop on Red Week. Demonstrations at such functions as Employee Celebration Day and the Benefits Fair include "fatal vision" goggles and field sobriety tests to give drivers a sense of the perceptual distortions that occur under the influence of alcohol.