GRANBY — The Granby Police Department has been awarded more than 30 car seats to help keep children safe on the road.
A Child Passenger Safety grant provided the department with the seats, which are valued at $3,400.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that car seats saved 328 children in 2016. But around 59 percent of car seats seats are improperly installed, which can leave children in danger, according to the federal agency.
The Granby Police Department has two officers who are trained to install car seats, including Officer Earl Brown, who said that “a good 40 percent of the time” parents bring in car seats that are not properly installed or are otherwise unsuitable for use.
“In many cases parents don’t know, especially the newer parents coming in,” Brown said. “They try to put the seat in and it’s not installed correctly.”
Officers will correct the problem and show parents how to properly install the seat, Brown said. But sometimes, the seat itself is unsuitable for use, according to Granby Police Chief Alan Wishart, which is one area where the grant will be useful.
“While it’s great that we have these officers trained to do that,” Wishart said, “one of the problems presented is if someone comes in with a faulty seat or one that’s not safe, they really can’t put a kid back in that, so if we have these on hand they can actually give someone a car seat if they need to.”
If officers patrolling the roads come across a child in an inproperly installed car seat, Brown said, the department can bring one of the car seats directly to the scene so that the car doesn’t move again until a child has been safely secured into an appropriate car seat.
The are also available to families who cannot afford to buy a proper car seat. The program is open to both Granby residents and people from outside communities. Several families have already contacted the police department to inquire about car seats, Brown said, with some from “as far as Agawam.”
Jacquelyn Voghel can be reached at jvoghel@gazettenet.com.