WHEREAS, the leading killer of American children is traffic crashes, and despite strong laws in every state requiring children to be properly restrained in seat belts or car safety seats, six out of ten children who die in crashes are completely unrestrained; and

WHEREAS, clearly, the presence of child passenger safety laws by themselves are not enough to get children buckled up. Concentrated and highly visible enforcement of seat belt and child passenger safety laws has proven effective in increasing restraint use and saving hundreds of young lives; and

WHEREAS, during the two 1998 Operation ABC Mobilization, seat belt use increased by almost four percentage points, representing more than eight million more Americans who were prompted to buckle up - the largest increase in belt use in eight years. If these Americans continue to wear their seat belts, its estimated that 1,500 lives will be saved this year, and

WHEREAS, polls have repeatedly shown that the American public overwhelmingly supports, by a nine-to-one margin, strong enforcement of child passenger safety laws. The public believes society has a duty to protect children and ensure drivers take the necessary steps to keep children safe in motor vehicles; now therefore be it

RESOLVED, the members of the IACP support the adoption in each state of a policy of zero tolerance for unbuckled children; and be it

FURTHER RESOLVED, that the International Association of Chiefs of Police encourages all agencies to participate in the twice-yearly Operation ABC Mobilization: America Buckle up Children, which helped get millions more Americans buckled up in 1998; and be it

FURTHER RESOLVED, that the International Association of Chiefs of Police supports the work of the Air Bag Seat Belt Safety Campaign and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to get more Americans to use seat belts.