BROCKTON — Brockton police officers aided hundreds of families in collaborating with Buckle Up For Life, a program designed to assist families in installing and inspecting car seats.
The department distributed 150 car seats in 2021 and plans to give away more in partnership with Copeland Toyota, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, and Toyota Motors, Lt. Brenda Perez, who leads the program, said in a Facebook post.
“Keeping Brockton’s children safe is always a number one priority for us,” Perez said. “We are lucky to have received another 100 seats from Buckle Up for Life, so we will be holding events to get them to the families who need them and to teach people about child passenger safety.”
Perez has received outstanding feedback from the parents who attended the safety program.
“The parents were glad we were able to help them because some families are struggling in our community and cannot afford a car seat,” Perez said.
Unsafe intersections:What are the most dangerous intersections for pedestrians in Brockton?
For the last 18 years, BPD has operated car seat inspections and installations to give parents more comfort while driving.
“This program is dear to me and dear to all of us in the department,” Perez said.
Technicians will assess your child at each appointment and find the right car seat based on age, weight and height.
The seats range from rear-facing infant seats to rear-facing convertible seats, forward-facing seats and booster seats.
Restaurant report:Gourmet Kitchen brings sweet, sizzling Caribbean Asian fusion to Randolph
“We want our children safe in the city. The police department has taken proactive steps to make sure we have technicities that can explain how the seats work and be able to speak the different languages we have here,” Perez said.
The safety program has seven certified technicians who are bilingual, speaking English, Spanish, Cape Verdean Creole and Haitian Creole.
The technicians hold weekly appointments on Wednesday evenings to inspect or install car seats while educating parents and caregivers about proper safety seat installation and usage.
The appointments are held at the Brockton Police Department at 7 Commercial St. To book an appointment, call 508-897-5208.
Enterprise staff reporter Alisha Saint-Ciel can be reached by email at [email protected] You can follow her on Twitter at @alishaspeakss. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Enterprise today.
