WHEREAS, today, three times as many parents and caregivers are using child safety seats compared to fifteen years ago; and

WHEREAS, national statistics indicate that more than eighty-five percent of child safety seats are used incorrectly, or may not be the appropriate seat for the child or for the vehicle in which the child is being transported; and

WHEREAS, traffic crash statistics show that hundreds of children under the age of eight are killed annually as a result of being improperly restrained in a child safety seat or booster seat; and

WHEREAS, a heightened awareness of the need for the safe transportation of our most precious assets, our children, has created an increasingly demanding need to have more law enforcement officers trained in the field of child passenger safety; and

WHEREAS, as the public has high expectations of law enforcement for crime prevention, as well as injury prevention on the highways, a failure to address this crucial need would only serve to erode public confidence in law enforcement; now therefore be it

RESOLVED, that the International Association of Chiefs of Police challenges all law enforcement agencies to develop programs and strategies to heighten awareness of Child Passenger Safety to reduce incidents of injury and death of unrestrained children in motor vehicles. Those programs should include training and education through Public Service Announcements, as well as Child Safety seat clinics; and be it

FURTHER RESOLVED, that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration be encouraged to develop incentive programs that provide additional highway safety funds for intensified education and training programs and enforcement initiatives, as well as promote and encourage aggressive public information and awareness campaigns; and that a multi-disciplinary approach requiring expertise from a number of public health and governmental agencies be encouraged to treat failure of motor operators to properly restrain children as a life threatening neglect of responsibility. Finally, copies of this resolution should be forwarded to the National Sheriffs' Association; National Safe Kids Coalition; the National Center for State Courts; and the National District Attorney’s Association.