By the school? Think about DT

by Jim Wycoff, Chief of Police

I would like to start this article by thanking all of the citizens of this area who have gone out of their way to welcome me personally, as well as Officer Richards, to the community. I am approached at least once per day by someone who wants to welcome me to town and wish me good luck. It has been wonderful.

While patrolling near the schools when they are releasing students for the day I have noticed a large number of people driving there to pick up children. The thing that has alarmed me is the large number of adults who are picking up children but not making sure that these children are properly secured in their safety belts in their cars before they leave the school property.

We all have read or heard about the tragedy that occurred in Kansas City where Chiefs outside linebacker Derrick Thomas was seriously injured and a passenger killed when the vehicle Derrick was driving was involved in a roll over accident. The Pro-Bowl defensive player and his friend were ejected from the vehicle and a third passenger, who was securely belted in the rear seat, remained in the vehicle.

The front seat passenger was killed instantly when the vehicle rolled over him and Derrick received a very serious spinal injury. We have also heard that complications from this accident have resulted in Derrick passing away last week.

There are numerous cases that I could recount from personal experience where a seat belt being fastened saved someone from serious injury or death or the lack of a secured safety belt could have prevented a death or serious injury. The evidence to support the wisdom of utilizing safety belts and child safety seats abounds.

I am certain that the people whom I observed picking up children at the school care very much for these young people and would not do anything to intentionally put them in harm’s way. My concern is that someone will have to be hurt locally before we take the admonitions and the law on seat belt and child safety seat use seriously.

All of us involved with children know that they need guidance and direction to acquire certain habits that are good for them. We regularly tell them to eat their vegetables and brush their teeth before going to bed or first thing in the morning. We enforce bedtimes because we know that it is important for them to get enough sleep so that they can learn at school and grow to be strong and healthy. The habits they learn regarding transportation are equally important.

Children are adults in training and what we teach them will serve them for the rest of their lives. I would ask that we all take the little bit of extra time required to teach them to always wear their seat belts when riding in cars and trucks. I would encourage adults to also set an example by wearing their safety belts whenever they drive or ride in motor vehicles. It’s good for you and frames your admonitions to the kids to wear their belts in a more creditable way.

Many people know that the law in Missouri requires that seat belts be worn and that children under a certain age or weight need to be securely restrained in child safety seats when riding in automobiles. They also understand that not wearing seat belts is not an adequate cause for officers to stop a car and issue citations.

What we may not all know is that this rule against making stops for failure to wear seat belts the primary cause for stop has an exception. A driver with minor children in a car can be stopped and cited if that child or children are observed not wearing seat belts or being securely restrained in a child safety seat.

The small fine involved is not really an incentive or deterrent when it comes to safety belt use. The reason the law is in place is because we all know that good citizens will obey the law because it is the law and makes sense, not from fear of being stopped and cited.

Children are precious gifts and they deserve to be protected. I would hope that we would all make it a personal commitment to see that children are properly restrained in vehicles we are driving or riding in. Please take the small amount of extra time involved to be certain that we protect our children as much as we can when they are being transported in automobiles.

I noticed in the letters section of last week’s newspaper that a person in town wanted to know when she was going to see police on patrol. I want to assure that person that we have two full time officers and a police reserve officer working for the City of Gallatin now and we are on patrol as much as we can be. We continue to search for an officer to fill the remaining full time vacancy.

There are a number of administrative tasks that are required to administer a police agency in Missouri and we try to handle these tasks as quickly as we can, and be thorough, and then we patrol. We hope to be able to have several programs initiated with the schools soon and that, also, will somewhat reduce the on street patrol time.

I regret that this person has not seen as much of us as they feel is appropriate, but we are on patrol and the crime profile for the city does not reflect any noticeable fluctuations from when the former full time force was in place, through when there was only one part-time officer to now, either way.

We are fortunate in this community in that Gallatin is called home by honest, hardworking people who have solid values. The result of this is that we don’t have many criminals and the ones that we do have aren’t very efficient or prolific. We have had a small number of minor crimes since I began here and we have either solved these crimes or at least recovered any property involved in theft type crimes.

At least one member of this community told me that we have very good kids here, but they are a little bit ‘ornery.’ I can assure you all that the level of this ‘orneriness’ is well below any community I have ever policed. It isn’t even in the ballpark with Kansas City and doesn’t come close to the kids in Marysville, and Marysville had very good kids.

I know that the dog problem is not what we would like it to be. We are doing the best we can on this, but we simply don’t have the staff yet to make dogs running at large captures a patrol priority. We respond to complaints and do the best we can to apprehend the dogs being complained about. We have an excellent kennel facility here and we are doing the best we can about the current residents there.

All of us (the new police officers) are from other communities in Missouri and trying to get settled here, and the home buying and/or renting process is quite time consuming. We will continue to get better at adjusting our patrol techniques and enforcement efforts to the particular way Gallatin works and I hope we can count on your continued patience as we adjust to our new homes and work environment here.