Police encourage taking part in Hero Campaign

BY CHRISTINE VARNO

Staff Writer

Ocean Township — The township Police Department kicked off the holiday season by adopting a new designated driver program, the John R. Elliot Hero Campaign for designated drivers.

The police department became involved in this program as part of the Hero Campaign that was established in August of 2000. The Hero Campaign was launched by the Elliot family of Egg Harbor, in memory of their son John Elliot who was killed in a head-on collision with a drunken driver in July 2000.

"This is our first year involved," said Sgt. Steven Peters of Ocean Township Police Department’s technical services division. "As we get more people involved, I think it will become very effective."

Ocean Township has recruited two establishments for the program so far. Applebee’s on Route 66 and Parkhills Waterfront Grill on Main Street in Loch Arbor, which contracts with the township for police services. They began the program on Dec. 21.

The designated driving program allows individuals to volunteer in a group of people to attend a gathering and then provide a safe ride home for their group. Bars in conjunction with the program offer a pin to be worn by the designated driver and supply free non-alcoholic soft drinks to that person for the evening.

"Prior to the holiday season, we attended a seminar put on by the Monmouth County Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Services in conjunction with the Hero Campaign," Peters said, "The police department was interested in getting aboard, so right after that, we started."

The Elliots have established the Hero Campaign to share the story about their son and since then have been instrumental in getting laws passed to try to prevent this from occurring again, according to Peters.

"They have turned something tragic into something good," Peters said.

As part of the program and campaign, "John’s Law," named after the Elliots’ son, has been passed and allows police departments to impound cars of suspected drunk drivers for up to 12 hours. Also, if a suspected drunken driver is released into another person’s custody, that person can be held liable if the suspected individual drives.

A second "Johns Law," which has been proposed but has not yet been passed by the state legislature, would allow a driver who has failed a Breathalyzer test to be held in custody until the blood alcohol content level drops below 0.05.

The Hero Campaign includes goals such as an increased use of designated drivers when friends gather at parties or bars, wearing blue and gold ribbons in honor of John Elliot, recruiting bar owners to become active and participate by displaying posters, and providing free non-alcoholic beverages to the designated drivers.

"We have been participating for several weeks, since the holiday season," Joshua Garber, the general manager of the Ocean Township Applebee’s, said, "We give the rib­bons to designated drivers and then supply them with soft drinks.

"As an establishment that serves liquor, we feel a responsibility for our customers when they leave here," Garber said. "We encourage this so everyone can have a good time."

The program was introduced for the holidays, but the police depart­ment is going to encourage people to participate in it throughout the year, according to Peters.