Berlin Native Eric Sweden Earns North Carolina Governor’s Highway Safety Program Director’s Award

On Wednesday, February 6, Sergeant E.J. Sweden of the Northwest District received the North Carolina Governor’s Highway Safety Program Director’s Award in recognition of his dedication to the cause of highway safety in North Carolina through his work in the field of DWI prevention and education.

GHSP Director Becky Wallace and N.C. Secretary of Transportation Tony Tata presented Sergeant Sweden with the honor at an awards luncheon held at the conclusion of the N.C. Highway Safety Symposium in Winston-Salem in front of an audience of more than 600 law enforcement and judicial officials.

Since he joined the RPD in 2000, Sergeant Sweden has demonstrated his strong motivation to prevent DWI-related injuries and deaths on the streets of Raleigh, and in 2004, he became certified as a Drug Recognition Expert instructor through the International Association of Chiefs of Police. For more than eight years, he has worked in partnership with the Governor’s Highway Safety Program and the N.C. Conference of District Attorneys to teach highway safety-related blocks of instruction to police officers, judges, magistrates, and prosecutors throughout North and South Carolina.

He has been recognized by North Carolina Mothers Against Drunk Driving for his
efforts to educate new and veteran officers regarding the detection and enforcement of impaired-driving offenses, and he is also a member of N.C. MADD’s Executive Committee and the N.C. Technical Advisory Committee for
Impaired Driving.