It's time for a stakeout

Time's are tough and money is tight, the perfect time to introduce a new revenue-producing public safety initiative. Let us explain.

We propose that in the interests of children's safety, and to boost sagging municipal bottom lines, that law enforcement officers stakeout daycare centers. Officers should make a practice of sitting to do reports in those lots-and nab folks not using proper car seats and restraints in the process. Strip malls, doctor's offices and any other manner of public place will do, but the most time-efficient place to wait would be where the highest concentration of parents and children visit.

If you gasped at the idea of staking out a daycare, then you are not looking at this in the right way. It is commonly agreed that the safety of children is of utmost importance to our society in general. Safety for children is a priority for parents, schools, daycare centers, social workers, drug treatment programs that admit pregnant addicts first, law enforcement-the list goes on. Making children's safety on the road a priority, means having them restrained in the manner dictated by law. Some time ago South Carolina decided to crack down on drivers and front-seat passengers violating the seatbelt law. Officers targeted motorists for that violation, and compliance increased. Shouldn't we do at least that for the sake of children?

A month ago in the City of Newberry, firefighters began ticketing cars parked in the fire lanes at stores. They began ticketing with a fine that is, previously fire lane violators received warnings. Have you noticed? There are a lot less vehicles clogging up those fire lanes and risking public safety these days.

In both of those example cases, until money was on the line there were a lot of people who violated the laws. Also in both those cases, when it was made clear to citizens that there would no longer be warnings, or a “pass” given when drivers were obeying all other traffic laws, people complied with the laws. That makes two reasons to get money, in the form of fines, involved in making car seat safety for children a priority.

The other reason to charge money? Well, enforcing the laws costs money. Fixing roads costs money. Putting up Christmas lights costs money. And the list goes on. Local government tends to garner money through property and sales taxes. We don't have to tell you that housing values are slumping, and in many cases falling. Likewise, consumers are holding tight to their cash as they wait for the economy to find its bottom. That puts a serious crimp on sales tax collections.

A new year approaches, with new challenges and hurdles. We propose one way to address two longstanding problems in the area, getting kids in the proper vehicle restraints and funding government.