The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office is now the regional headquarters for the West Tennessee Child Passenger Safety Center. The center, a partnership between the Sheriff’s Office and the Tennessee Governor’s Highway Safety Office, operates at the Sheriff’s Office Patrol Substation at 11670 Memphis-Arlington Road in Arlington.

“We’re delighted to have a full-time certified child passenger safety technician working with us at the Sheriff’s Office. One of our key initiatives for 2008 will be to keep children riding in vehicles as safe as possible. This new education center will be a valuable resource for parents and community agencies,” said Shelby County Sheriff Mark H. Luttrell, Jr.

Last year, Shelby County Sheriff’s Deputies handed out 31 citations for drivers having children in their vehicles not properly restrained.

A $340,000 grant funds the office, which includes the salary for Angela Brown, a certified child safety technician and instructor. The funds will be used to promote child passenger safety in the Shelby County area and 22 other counties across the West Tennessee area.

The Center’s main outreach will be done through child passenger safety checkpoints that are held at local businesses. At these checkpoints parents can drive up and receive one-on-one training with a certified child passenger safety technician.

The technician will check the child restraint for recalls, missing parts, and appropriateness for the vehicle and the child. If a child restraint is deemed unsafe the technician will swap that restraint for the correct one.

“Too many kids move from a booster seat to a safety belt before they’re big enough. According to statistics, infants and toddlers ride in safety restraints more than 90 percent of the time, but children ages 4-7 ride in safety restraints only 73 percent of the time. That’s an alarming difference, and it shows that many parents and caregivers are unaware of the importance of booster seats,” said Ms. Brown.

Ms. Brown will be conducting child passenger safety checkpoints and health fairs throughout the community and assisting Deputies at “zero-tolerance” traffic safety checkpoints. She will also teach classes for Shelby County Deputies so they will be certified child passenger safety technicians.

When children are found unrestrained or not properly restrained in vehicles involved in traffic stops or other situations, Deputies with the child passenger safety certifications will respond with the restraints.

Next month, Ms. Brown will conduct a Certified Child Passenger Safety Technician Course at the Germantown Police Department at 1930 South Germantown Road. The four-day course will be held February 5-8; it is free for both the public and law enforcement officers. The course will be from 8 a.m. through 5 p.m. daily. A child passenger safety checkpoint will be held from 1-3pm that Friday, February 8th, at Hobby Lobby (1991 Exeter Rd, Germantown, TN 38138).

Those completing the course will receive a two-year certification as a certified child passenger safety technician. The certification is recognized by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

For more information about the child passenger safety courses call (901) 867-1358 or register for a course at: www.tntrafficsafety.org.

Also visit the Center’s website at: http://wtncpsc.shelby-sheriff.org.