NCJ Number
195912
Journal
Police Chief Volume: 69 Issue: 7 Dated: July 2002 Pages: 47-50
Editor(s)
Charles E. Higginbotham
Date Published
July 2002
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This article discusses the Kansas Highway Patrol’s (KHP) expanded efforts in the area of child passenger safety through education, legislation, and enforcement.
Abstract
The Kansas Highway Patrol (KHP) launched a multidimensional campaign to improve child passenger safety in the State of Kansas. To accomplish this, the KHP decided that a diverse combination of expanded and intensified efforts through alliances could make a difference. The KHP combined educational campaigns such as Child Passenger Safety Awareness Week, special enforcement efforts, and legislative lobbying. One of the KHP’s most effective methods in educating adults and children to buckle up is a rollover device demonstration. KHP management emphasizes Kansas’ child restraint laws to its uniformed personnel through the training academy, in-service classes, and its biweekly newsletter. In 2002, officers in the patrol’s public information section joined the Kansas Safe Kids Coalition, KDOT, the governor’s office, the American Automobile Association of Kansas, the Kansas State Nurses Association, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, and the Kansas Public Health Association to testify before the Kansas House and Senate committees to amend the child passenger protection laws to include a booster seat requirement for children 40-80 pounds and under 57 inches tall. Lobbying, public education, public and private cooperation, and interagency alliances can prove beneficial in protecting children.