is the newly appointed commanding officer of the Motor Carrier Compliance Division (MCCD) in the Georgia Department of Public Safety. He began his career in 2000, 
working as a deputy in Wilkes, Greene and Richmond counties before joining the Georgia Department of Public Safety in 2008. He served as an officer in the Atlanta area and as a canine-handler. During his tenure, he started the State’s Motor Carrier Training program for MCCD officers and ran the program for several years. When he was Captain over the Atlanta Metro Unit, he was appointed as the MCCD Executive Officer to support the Major at Headquarters in November of 2021. He was appointed major 14 months later on March 1, 2023.
In this interview for TRUX magazine, Major Montgomery spoke about the new direction GA MCCD will be taking under his command.
HOW ARE YOU CHANGING MCCD’S APPROACH TO ENFORCEMENT?
My approach is quality and data driven as opposed to simply producing a number. We want to focus our resources on the bad actors within the industry and support businesses and drivers that are operating within the confines of the law to provide crucial services to our communities.
During my previous experience in local law enforcement, I learned that to solve problems you must evaluate the factors that cause the problems. Once you understand those problematic factors, you can then determine solutions and deploy an effective strategy to combat them. We want to become more proactive and focused on bad driving behavior and blatant mechanical neglect. Our intentions are to focus on drivers and vehicles that are compromising their safety as well as the safety of those operating on the roadways of our state.
HOW WILL MCCD IDENTIFY THOSE BAD ACTORS? WHAT ARE THE MAIN AREAS OF CONCERN?
Through our data supported traffic enforcement initiatives, we will focus our efforts on issues like following too close, distracted driving, speeding, as well as alcohol and drug impairment. These types of violations have proven through data to be some of the leading CMV crash causative factors. It is critical that we follow the data to ensure that we are focusing our efforts and resources in the areas that are most affecting CMV safety in Georgia as it relates to traffic enforcement.
Additionally, because of an increase in alcohol and drug impairment driving cases, we have allocated more resources to combat CMV impairment within our state. Narcotics and human trafficking have become a big push as well, because we know it is present and harmful to our communities.
WHAT CHANGES ARE YOU MAKING IN THE WAY OFFICERS APPROACH THEIR ROLES?
I want the officers to have a policing mindset first and then transition into an inspector mindset second. It is important to understand that before an officer can get into the inspection process, he or she needs to be fully aware of what they are dealing with roadside. This is accomplished through traditional law enforcement interview techniques and experience. This is an enhancement I am encouraging our officers to make for the improvement of our program and for the safety of everyone.
Traditionally, inspectors focused on typical violations like hours of service and mechanical issues. We want to create a mind shift so that our officers first evaluate for criminal activity such as driving under the influence, human trafficking or transportation of narcotics.
That is in line with one of our newest programs. We recently formed a canine team, which is comprised of some of our most skilled drug interdiction officers. Our intentions are to deploy nine canines throughout the state, with one per geographical region. They will be single purpose narcotics detection canines.
THE DIVISION WILL BE TAKING A MORE REGIONAL APPROACH TO ENFORCEMENT. WHAT DOES THAT LOOK LIKE?
The regional approach allows each captain to evaluate their problems and address them based on their geographical challenges.
A generic approach to the issues will not work because each portion of the state has its own challenges. South Georgia has agricultural transportation and forestry transportation. That is a different challenge than Atlanta, where traffic volume is the problem.
We are looking at the issues in different parts of the state and using data to strategize how to combat them.
WHY DO YOU TAKE THIS DATA-DRIVEN APPROACH TO ENFORCEMENT?
You must genuinely understand the problem to develop an enforcement strategy that is going to be effective. It is why I think post-crash inspections are so important. We go out and conduct post-crash inspections because that data helps us understand all the factors that contributed to the crash. It is this process that helps us determine where to focus our enforcement efforts.
We have a crash analytics program that highlights where our crashes are occurring and provides us with the ability to filter down that information to be more specific about things like the cause of the crash. Was it following too close? Was it side swipe same direction, which is indicative of distracted driving? We use data to point us in the correct direction.
WHAT ARE THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES THE DIVISION IS FACING?
One of the biggest challenges we face is employee recruitment and retention, which is a challenge seen by all law enforcement agencies throughout our nation. I have been working on benefits packages and other officer incentive programs to keep talented law enforcement officers employed within our ranks. Persistent turnover is a safety concern because without a properly staffed division, you do not have the personnel available to fully execute the CMV focused mission that is solely served by DPS.
You make a big investment when you hire an officer, equip them and train them. It takes a long time to get them to where they can be efficient and effective on their own. This means that I, as the MCCD major, need to find creative and innovative ways to appeal to them so that long lasting careers are built within our agency.
WHAT ABOUT THE EDUCATIONAL COMPONENT OF MCCD?
One-third of what we do is education. Companies can call and request a CMV educational outreach where we send an officer to their location at absolutely no cost. We will talk with their drivers, answer their questions and walk them through the inspection process. If we can correct or clarify a potential issue during a CMV educational outreach, we have done our job. Our goal is safety regardless of whether that is achieved roadside or at a carrier’s facility.
MCCD is an open book when it comes to how we operate within the law. It is not a secret. We do not want to be the “I gotcha” police. We want the operators to feel comfortable, safe and knowledgeable of the law. It is critical for us to provide them with educational support to help them be successful professional drivers.
We need to keep the lines of communication open so that trucking companies understand any updates to the law, and we can answer any questions they may have.
WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE GMTA AND THE TRUCKING INDUSTRY TO KNOW ABOUT HOW YOU APPROACH TO YOUR NEW ROLE?
I would like them to know that we are focused on the bad actors within the industry that are negatively impacting the CMV community and the safety of our roadways. We understand that the vast majority of truck drivers are hardworking people transporting essential goods and services to our communities. Without their help, our economy would not be sustainable.
I aim to partner with industry and highlight the educational component of our division to help promote safety. I plan to stay focused on the problem and not lose my way in the numbers game. We want the industry to be a part of our solution of reducing crashes. We do not view them as the problem, but as a viable partner with the same goals of CMV safety.
