Batavia man IDs way to keep kids safe
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What would happen if you were injured in a car accident and couldn't speak?
You might have ID in your purse or wallet, but how would police know the names -- or critical health information -- of the kids in the back seat?
Ron Smith of Batavia, a retired Kane County sheriff's deputy, has the answer.
He provides, with the help of the Loyal Order of Moose, child identification cards that attach to car seats.
"If you can't talk to us, or the kids are too scared … If we know somebody the kid is familiar with, that's better," the 54-year-old Smith said.
Several things inspired him to start making the KID Cards.
One was an accident he investigated years ago. The driver was unconscious; they couldn't find her purse; and the state's car registration computer program was down. There was an empty child car seat in the back with a state ID sticker on it. They were able to figure out who the driver was by tracking the ID back to the owner, who could then tell them that the seat had been lent to a friend.
It got Smith thinking. Then in 1999 he attended a safety fair where the Streamwood Police Department was making child ID cards. He wanted in.
The plastic ID cards are pretty simple. They have the child's photo, date of birth, parents' names and address, phone number, an emergency contact's name and phone number, a doctor's name and phone number, and space to list allergies or medical issues.
On the back is "Courtesy of Moose, the Family Fraternity." That way, if people are worried about people seeing their kids' names, they can turn the card around.
After a crash, emergency personnel usually keep kids in their car seats when they pull the kids from the car, in case of back or neck injuries, So they are used to examining car seats, and are likely to find the ID, Smith said.
Smith uses a digital camera, a laptop computer and a printer. He got new equipment in July, when his current employer, the Moose International Security Department, agreed to sponsor the program. (He's chief of security at Mooseheart, the residential school near Batavia, after retiring from Kane County in April.)
Parents can put the ID in a plastic sleeve, remove the backing from the sleeve and stick the ID somewhere on the child's car seat.
The youngest child he's photographed was 2 days old, Smith said. Any child too young for a driver's license is eligible. With infants, he usually takes their picture while they are in their car seat.
Because children change so much, families seek him out again and again to have new cards made, he said.
He can also take a picture of a photograph, if necessary.
And he can do siblings' cards pretty quickly, overwriting the child's name, date of birth and medical information.
Smith's dream? For someone to donate a vehicle that he can outfit with the equipment, so he doesn't have to carry it in and out of events. Ideally, a trolleylike vehicle with a back porch where kids would walk up one side, have their photo taken and exit down the other. ("As long as I'm dreaming," he says.)
He makes appearances throughout the area. In August there was a child safety fair at Mooseheart. In July, he was in the firehouse at the Sugar Grove Corn Boil.
"At the Corn Boil people come and find me," he said, even though the firehouse was a little out of the way. Smith made 79 cards that day.
He prefers to set the equipment up indoors, so it isn't exposed to the elements or to accidental damage by a large crowd.
He does not keep any of the information. After the picture is taken and the ID printed, the information is deleted. The paper form is given back to the parent.
Smith would like to take the program statewide, sponsored by Moose lodges. He thinks it would fit the order's ideals.
"The protection of children is Mooseheart's reason to exist. It (the Moose) is a family fraternity," Smith said.
Get KID Cards
Oct. 21: Halloween Family Fun Fair, The Centre, 100 Symphony Way, Elgin
Oct. 27: Ron Westphal Chevrolet dealership, routes 30 and 34, Aurora.