MPD Responds to Child Safety Seat Installation Concerns

From MPD:

“The recent post referencing difficulty with obtaining assistance installing a child safety seat calls into question the tremendous effort the men and women of the Metropolitan Police Department’s Traffic Safety Division put forth daily to assist residents of the District.

I am not sure who made the statement you referenced about arrests, but no protestors were arrested. The alignment of current events, and most specifically the demonstrations surrounding the grand jury decision in Ferguson, Missouri, while unfortunate, resulted in the cancellation of child safety seat installation hours on one specific day. Members of the Traffic Safety Division, along with the rest of the MPD were deployed to assist with the facilitation of large groups of demonstrators moving throughout the city. As these demonstrations were spontaneous in their nature and comprised of large numbers of demonstrators, all members of the MPD were activated to facilitate the movement of large groups and ensure everyone’s safety on our roadways.

The purpose for writing today is to ensure members of the community are aware of the efforts made regularly to provide for the safety of infants and children while riding in motor vehicles. We take this issue quite seriously. As a rough estimate, the MPD installs over 65 child safety seats per month. Additionally, through a federal grant, the MPD is able to provide child safety seats at low or no cost to those in need.

While the MPD continues to make a tremendous effort in this area, it should also be mentioned that a host of our District of Columbia Government partners, and private healthcare organizations, also provide extensive opportunities to take advantage of child safety seat services. DDOT, DMV, Providence Hospital, United Medical Center, and the Town Hall Arts and Recreation Campus (THEARC) all offer installation services by appointment and with regularly scheduled hours.

For additional information regarding traffic safety, and more specifically child safety seat issues, contact information for the Traffic Division is below.

Contact: Officer Arlinda Page, [email protected]
MPD Traffic Division
(202) 437-8030
501 New York Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20001
(Appointment only, 8 a.m.. to 12 p.m..)
(Every Tuesday, booster seat from 10 a.m.. to 6 p.m..)

Helpful Links:

http://mpdc.dc.gov/page/traffic-safety

http://ddot.dc.gov/page/child-safety-seat-usage

http://ddot.dc.gov/page/free-car-seat-inspection-stations

http://ddot.dc.gov/page/car-safety-seat-program

Have a safe holiday season.

Respectfully,

Lieutenant Sean Conboy
Public Information Office”