Police Department discontinues child safety seat inspections
The Fairfax County Police Department is no longer conducting free child safety seat inspections. The free service had been carried out monthly at police stations across the county, including the Mason Police Station.
According to the FCPD, “This program was discontinued due to recent budget cuts and is no longer available through our department.”
The Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office conducts free child safety seat events once a month at the Fairfax County Courthouse Complex, 10550 Page Ave., Fairfax, on the fourth floor of the public parking garage.
The FY 2026 budget approved for Fairfax County includes a long list of budget cuts, including nearly $45,500 in overtime pay for the car seat inspection program operated by FCPD.
“Since this is not a core function of the Police Department, it is not expected to impact the department’s ability to prevent and fight crime,” the advertised budget document states. “Community members will have to find alternative organizations who provide this service, such as the Office of the Sheriff.”
Trained and certified sheriff’s deputies check over 1,000 child safety seats every year and find that 80-90 percent have not been installed correctly. Either the safety seat was not properly secured in the vehicle or the child was not properly harnessed in the seat.
Virginia law requires that all children up to age 8 must be in a child restraint device or booster seat.
All rear-facing infant seats must be placed in the back seat of a vehicle. If a vehicle does not have a back seat, a rear-facing infant seat may be placed in the front passenger seat, but only if the vehicle is either not equipped with a passenger-side airbag or the airbag has been deactivated.
Only $45,500?!
My family really benefited from this program and can understand cutting it if a) there wasn’t a need and b) our FCPD staff didn’t want to take on anymore. Relying on just the Office of the Sheriff seems logical but they may not have the staffing to provide the service at scale. The Courthouse is out of the way and doing it at the local police station is the right approach. We had the inspection of our car seat at the Lee District police station.
It’s a shame as I believe it was a well used program.
These police stations are open 24/7 and have staff present at all times. They could train those staff members to offer this service anytime. It doesn’t take a police officer to install car seat, anyone can be trained to do it. I also believe most of the officers who provided this service were either paid overtime to stand around on Saturdays in the event a car or two would partake of the service. If not, they were taken off their regular beats to hang at the station when they should be out on the streets enforcing laws.
For many years the FCPD were the leader in safety in this and many other areas. The core mission of the Department is the SAFETY and security of the public it serves. This Child Passenger Safety program has been a vital service to the community to educate caregivers about the safety of their children. I applaud the sheriff’s office for taking the lead but there is still a much greater need across the county. The Department is missing the most important part of their mission, preventing not just reacting.
What a lame move. This is a potentially life saving program with minimal cost. Rethink this and reinstate is my suggestion.