A McMinnville police officer honored as the Tennessee Highway Safety Office’s Technician of the Year for completing the most child car seat inspections in the state.
Master Patrol Officer Mark Mara said the award is proof that the Car Seat Coalition is working as it should. Mara said the coalition is a partnership between McMinnville and Warren County law enforcement and first responders to make sure children are safe and in the right seat when in a vehicle.
“It’s not just me,” Mara said. “I’m getting noticed, but our coalition is the one that works really, really hard. And because of the coalition, how effective it is, and that people are coming to us wanting to get their car seats checked, that’s where this is really important.”
Mara said the paperwork that earned him the recognition is filled out at events, appointments and crashes and saved in a national database. Mara said the paperwork reports any issues with those seats.
Car seat technicians are police officers that inspect car seats to ensure they are safe for kids.
Mara said car seat inspections are part of the department’s top priority, which is road safety. He said crashes can be prevented, so the McMinnville Police go above and beyond to help protect drivers and their passengers.
“We do a lot of enforcement, we do a lot of education, and we take advantage of grants, money that we get from the Tennessee Highway Safety Office, and from other grants” Mara said.
Mara said things like speed detecting message boards and targeted patrols for high crash times are just a couple of ways the department works to reduce accidents.
As far as car seat enforcement goes, Mara said technicians often have car seats in their vehicles. He said these are given out if a child is in the wrong seat during a traffic stop. Mara said the department holds car seat events to educate the public and ensure kids are in the right seat for their age.
Mara said protecting the roadways is a collaborative effort, so the McMinnville Police’s involvement in the Car Seat Coalition is vital to public safety.
“If we’re trying to do an event, and the McMinnville Police Department is trying to do it alone, we’ve got four technicians,” Mara said. “That may sound like a lot, but it’s not when ypu have 20 or 30 people trying to get their car seats done in a quick time period, because nobody wants to wait in line.”
Mara said the more available technicians there are the better, especially if something like a crash happens during an event.
