San Rafael drivers can expect more officers targeting DUI, speeding and distracted driving at the city's most dangerous intersections starting Oct. 1, after the City Council placed a $108,500 state grant on its Monday, Aug. 17, consent calendar to fund a year of stepped-up traffic patrols.

The money comes from the California Office of Traffic Safety and will bankroll the San Rafael Police Department's Selective Traffic Enforcement Program, known as STEP, from Oct. 1, 2026, through Sept. 30, 2027. The council was scheduled to approve the grant as a consent calendar item during its regular meeting at City Hall, 1400 Fifth Ave.

The resolution also authorizes Acting City Manager Paul Navazio to execute the grant agreement on the city's behalf.

What STEP covers

The grant pays overtime for officers deployed to high-crash locations across San Rafael. It does not create new permanent positions. Under the program, SRPD runs DUI checkpoints and saturation patrols, high-visibility distracted-driving enforcement, speed and red-light operations, pedestrian and bicycle safety details, community traffic safety presentations and officer training.

The new award is larger than the $92,000 OTS grant SRPD received in November 2024, which covered a prior cycle through September 2025. As of a 2020 city staff report, the state had awarded San Rafael more than $2 million in traffic safety grants over the preceding 19 years. The department has received OTS funding for most of the past two decades.

Already in action

SRPD has already scheduled a DUI checkpoint for Aug. 28 from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. at an undisclosed San Rafael location, funded by the current OTS grant cycle that the new award will replace. Checkpoint locations are chosen based on crash data involving impaired drivers, according to the department's announcement.

"Impaired drivers put others on the road at significant risk," Corporal Schraeder said in a July 23 press release announcing the checkpoint. "Any prevention measures that reduce the number of impaired drivers on our roads significantly improve traffic safety."

What's next

The grant period begins Oct. 1. Under standard OTS requirements, SRPD must issue a public kick-off announcement by Nov. 15 detailing the new grant year's enforcement plans.