SRO Jason Urban receives the MADD award

Dec 14, 2015 at 05:20 pm by bryan


Mothers Against Drunk Driving presented the Middle Tennessee's Outstanding Service Award last week to a Rutherford County School Resource Officer for his work in preventing underage drinking.

SRO Jason Urban received the award given to an officer who "excels in exhibiting compassion to drunk driving victims, partnering with youth on underage drinking prevention or taking a proactive approach by implementing programs or enforcement campaigns to reduce DUI injuries and fatalities in their jurisdiction," MADD reported.

ADVERTISEMENT

Deputy Urban is an SRO who is a lead investigator for the Teen Education Alcohol Management. T.E.A.M. is a Sheriff's Office program where officers do compliance checks and shoulder taps at stores in the county.

Sheriff Robert Arnold said Deputy Urban strongly enforces the law against teen drinking in Rutherford County.

"Deputy Urban is committed to teens refraining from drinking and driving and preventing injuries or deaths by our youngest drivers," Sheriff Arnold said. "He is dedicated to encouraging store clerks to follow the law and not sell alcohol to teens."

In the past 13 months, Deputy Urban led 91 compliance checks on stores in Rutherford County. He issued 19 citations to store clerks for the sale of alcohol to a person under age 21.

He followed up with convictions on the citations and forwarded the information to the appropriate Beer Board. The Beer Boards suspended beer permit licenses up to 15 days based on Deputy Urban's activity.

Deputy Urban also coordinates additional officers at each of the 10 Rutherford High School proms in an effort to combat underage drinking.

He is a board member with the Community Anti-Drug Coalition of Rutherford County (CADCOR) and teaches a Responsible Vendor Program to store clerks to help them recognize illegal alcohol sales. He also wrote an article about T.E.A.M. that appeared in the Spring 2015 National Association of School Resource Officer's Journal of School Safety.

Sections: News