POLICE CHIEF HELPS TRAIN ON SEAT-BELT USE

Cape Girardeau Police Chief Howard Boyd Jr. is one of several police chiefs who are spreading the message to law enforcement that seat belts save officers' lives, too.

The Federal Highway Traffic Safety Program, in conjunction with the International Chiefs of Police organization, has been awarded a grant to travel across the United States talking to high-ranking police officers about seat belts.

"The idea has met some resistance in law enforcement agencies, especially in California," Boyd said.

"In California there is a primary seat-belt law, meaning police officers can pull you over and ticket you just for not wearing a seat belt," Boyd said. "But the police are exempt from this law."

Boyd said that in Missouri law enforcement officers are not exempt from seat-belt laws, but are exempt from child-safety-seat laws in emergency situations.

Two weeks ago Boyd was one of several police chiefs who spent a week in San Diego, Calif., training senior officers to train their officers to wear seat belts.

"The program began several years ago to encourage law enforcement administrators to implement policies to get officers to wear their seat belts," Boyd said. "The programming has been mildly successful."

The program itself has a seven-hour curriculum, citing benefits of requiring use of safety restraints and extolling its benefits.

"Officers wearing seat belts have survived head-on crashes at highway speeds," Boyd said. "They send them out there in bullet-proof vests to protect them, but then don't require them to wear their seat belts."

Boyd said that officers have expressed a fear of not being able to get out of their cars quickly enough when wearing safety belts, or having the belt catch on their badges or gun belts.

"What we are telling people is that we can train officers against this sort of thing happening," Boyd said.

Boyd's part of the curriculum is presenting the risk factors to the officers when they are involved in an accident without wearing their seat belts.

"There are the risks of severe injury in head-on crashes or any accident situation," Boyd said. "In addition, if an employee is injured in an employer's car, and is not wearing a seat belt, workers' compensation will only pay up to 85 percent of the medical costs.

"The message we bring these departments is to take full advantage of occupant safety restraints and that they do save lives," Boyd said.

This year Cape Girardeau was one of six Missouri cities added to the "70 Percent Plus Honor Roll" in recognition of high safety-belt usage.

Officers in the city police department have been required to wear seat belts while on duty for the last 10 years.

Boyd said that officers in his department have been wearing seat belts for such a long time that it becomes second nature to them.

"There have been no specific complaints from our officers about seat belts," Boyd said. "Apparently, we're past those issues.

"I can't even drive across the parking lot to fuel up a car without putting one on," Boyd said. "It becomes a force of habit - something you've learned to live with and do instinctively every time you get into a car."