Latest news, weather and high school sports for Albany and Southwest Georgia

TIFT COUNTY, GEORGIA -- The Tift County Sheriff’s Office recently won state and national awards for excellence in traffic safety and a commitment to saving lives.

The agency won first at the International Associations of Chiefs of Police National Law Enforcement Challenge. They also won second place for the Georgia Governor’s Challenge.

Officials there say the award applications require extensive documents, photos and statistics; they say their applications were 200 pages long.

'We've had a 100 percent reduction in alcohol related fatalities and speed related fatalities over the past three years and that speaks volumes as to what we're doing,” says Sgt. James Partain with the Tift County Sheriff’s Office.

Harris Blackwood, Director of the Georgia Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, says approximately 100 agencies across the state applied for the Governor’s Challenge.

Blackwood presented a resolution from the General Assembly to the Tift County Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday commending the agency on their achievement.