Tanner-Richter to train police, prosecutors, and judges to reduce drunk and drugged driving

Thursday, March 8, 2018 - 16:00

Mary Tanner-Richter

ALBANY COUNTY — Mary Tanner-Richter, the Vehicular Crimes Unit Bureau Chief for the Albany County District Attorney’s Office, has been named as one of two Traffic Safety Resource Prosecutors for the State of New York through the Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee’s Highway Safety Program.

The program is funded by a grant from the Federal Highway Safety Program under the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and addresses roadway safety through education and training across the state as well as nationwide.

The program provides training opportunities for police, prosecutors, and judges across New York. In addition to training for drunk and drugged driving prosecution, many courses focus on distracted driving issues and proper vehicular homicide investigations and prosecutions.

Tanner-Richter is working with members of the Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and the National Traffic Law Center of the American Prosecutors Research Institute to apprise New York prosecutors and police of the latest traffic safety issues nationwide.

“I have dedicated the majority of my professional career to holding impaired drivers accountable for their crimes and giving voice to the multitude of victims who have paid the ultimate price for those crimes,” said Tanner-Richter in a release from the district attorney’s office. “Impaired/distracted driving are not victimless crimes.

“They can affect anyone of us at any time. I look forward to providing the necessary training and expertise to ensure that these cases are properly investigated and prosecuted and that offenders across this State are actually held accountable.”

Tanner-Richter has been an assistant district attorney in the Albany County District Attorney’s office since February 2001. She has specialized in vehicular crimes prosecution since 2004 and was instrumental in creating the Albany County District Attorney’s Vehicular Crimes Unit in 2008.

Tanner-Richter was named the 2015 National Traffic Safety Prosecutor of the Year by the National Association of Prosecutor Coordinators. She has previously received recognitions including the 2011 Recognition of Excellence Award presented by New York State STOP DWI, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and the New York State Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee. Albany County STOP DWI presented her the Daniel S. Dwyer Memorial Award in December 2012 to honor her commitment to justice for victims of DWI crimes.

Tanner-Richter is a member of the Albany County STOP-DWI Program, and currently sits on the New York State Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee Advisory Council on Impaired Driving Enforcement Team and Probation and Community Supervision Team.

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