The Sparta Police Department now offering appointments to make sure families are using child car seats properly.
Assistant Chief Brent Copeland said the department has an officer assigned to each shift who can examine car seats to make sure they are installed properly and still safe to use. Copeland said the officers will not only check car seats but also educate parents about how to handle the seats themselves.
“A lot of people don’t know that the car seats will, after a certain amount of time the safety factor of them is not there,” Copeland said. “And they kind of basically expire type deal. So what we do on that is we just make sure that everything is in line.”
Copeland said the department currently has two officers certified to inspect car seats and is looking at sending more officers to get the same training. Copeland said parents should call ahead to set up an appointment for faster service but walk-ins are also welcome.
“These children that are placed in these car seats are our number one priority and we want to make sure that everything is in compliance,” Copeland said. “‘Cause a lot of times people aren’t aware of all the things that can go wrong on a car seat.”
Copeland said the department plans to host car seat checkpoint events in the future where many people can come and get their car seats checked at once. Copeland said the goal is to work towards those events after more officers receive their certification from the Tennessee Highway Safety Office.
“We really don’t have a date set in mind,” Copeland said. “We’d like to get a couple more sent and that way it gives us at least four of our officers there that we can actually utilize when we do have a checkpoint.”
Copeland said the expiration date on a car seat is important to pay attention to, especially when a seat is handed down from sibling to sibling. Copeland said this service is just another aspect of the department’s duty to assist the public.
