ONSLOW COUNTY, N.C. -- The Onslow County Sheriff’s Office was recently approved by the board of commissioners to receive a grant from the Governor’s Highway Safety Commission.

• The $1.4 million grant will be used to prevent and reduce DWI cases and collisions
• The sheriff's office plans to hire four personnel to form the DWI task force
• Onslow County ranks as number eight when it comes to alcohol related crashes, and number six when it comes to alcohol related crashes that result in a death

“I don’t want any surviving family member to come up to me, look me in the eye, and say sheriff, you could have done something,” Sheriff Hans Miller with Onslow County Sheriff’s Office said.

The grant, totaling $1.4 million, will be used to prevent and reduce Driving While Impaired (DWI) cases and collisions. According to Sheriff Miller, the funding will begin Oct. 1 and the sheriff’s office plans to hire four personnel to form a DWI task force, a supervising sergeant and three other patrolling deputies.

“A lot of times when you see deputies on the road, they may be going from one call to another call, to another call and we don’t have the luxury to do proactive policing. A lot of times we have to reactive because of the limited man power we have,” said Hans, who is happy to have a task force just for this.

According to statistics from the North Carolina Governor’s Safety Program, Onslow County ranks as number 13 as far as population in the state. However, it also ranks as number eight when it comes to alcohol related crashes, and number six when it comes to alcohol related crashes that result in a death.

The MCCS Lejeune and New River Substance Abuse Prevention Specialist, Jennifer Attila, says the sheriff’s office has been gracious in teaching their two-hour impairment driving prevention classes called, “Rethink that Drink”.

“So this is an opportunity to educate active duty Marines who have no incidents, this helps them see this really does have a long impact on their career,” said Attila.

She also says the 43,000 men and women serving in the USMC or Navy in Onslow County can take a class through their command.