Grantham police officer launches Operation Buckled in Lincolnshire to ‘clear up confusion’ around car seat safety
A new police campaign aims to help give parents and officers the right information on car seat safety.
Shannon Rogers, a student officer for Lincolnshire Police, has launched Operation Buckled in an effort to “clear up the confusion” for parents and officers by providing them with the best information as to how to safely secure a child in a car seat.
While the campaign is still in its early days, Shannon plans to release videos and images for people to show them how a child should be safely seated.
Shannon, who is based in Grantham, said: “Everyone has a different idea of what car safety is like.
“As a parent, it was confusing for me as well. We are told to get a car seat and then anything you find online about it, there is so much information and it is very confusing. It can get overwhelming.
“Operation Buckled is about giving parents and officers the correct safety instructions so they can make a safe call as to what to do.
“We want to end the confusion around car seat safety so parents can make the best decision they can.
“Also, as officers if we don’t know the exact forms of car safety, how can we expect other people to know?”
The campaign will focus on:
• Checking if a child is too small for a car seat
• Checking if the straps are tight enough and how to correctly tighten them
• Making sure a child doesn’t have a coat on while in a car seat as it may loosen the harness on the seat.
Lou Willett, who brought her son Harvey to have a chat with Shannon about safety, said it is “100 per cent important” that a campaign like this provides people with the best information.
She added: “It’s especially important for new parents that don’t particularly have that information.”
She said another issue was knowing how to correctly fit the seat into the car in the first place.
“Sometimes you can go into a shop to buy a car seat and they will show you how to fit to seat into the car.
“However, if you get one online, you may not have an idea of how to put it in,” Lou added.
At the end of November, Shannon is due to take part in a course with Good Egg Safety, a national child car seat safety training programme.
After completing the course, she will receive a national accreditation and it will make her the first and only officer within Lincolnshire Police to have this accreditation.
“Getting this accreditation will hopefully be the start of something bigger in the force,” added Shannon.