Tucson will soon have an explicit law against leaving children in cars.
The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to back new rules against the practice that has caused dozens of deaths around the country.
The new law, which makes it a Class 1 misdemeanor to lock a child under 10 years old in a car by himself or herself, was proposed by Councilwoman Nina Trasoff after she met the director of a non-profit agency whose year-old daughter died after her baby sitter left her in a car.
City lawyers and police officials said the law won't materially change how the city responds to children locked in cars, because the police and fire departments already can respond to these situations under endangerment and other state statutes.
But Trasoff said the law "eliminates a gray area" and "the need for a judgment call" by a police officer or firefighter who encounters a child in a locked car.
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Given that city law already makes it a crime to leave animals in a car, Trasoff said it only makes sense to have a law against leaving children in the car as well.
Assistant Police Chief Roberto Villaseñor said the increased profile of the new law helps "make a statement to the community" and educates residents not to leave their kids in cars.
Deona Ryan, whose daughter died after being left in a car by a baby sitter, said there should be an explicit law against leaving children in cars. Ryan now runs Hot Spot, a safety program for children, at Tucson Medical Center.
She said the baby sitter who left her child in the car in 2004 was never charged with any crime. Ryan campaigned for a similar law passed earlier this year in Hawaii, where she was living when her daughter died. For more information on Ryan's campaign, visit http:// foraslyn.blogspot.com.
"It's been our family's mission to make sure no one has to go through this pain again," Ryan told the council. "Don't let someone else go through what we've been through."
In 2007, Tucson firefighters reported nearly 250 incidents of children locked in vehicles, according to the city. Tucson police have used endangerment and other statutes to respond to 22 cases in a year and a half, with 14 cases leading to arrests.
The new law would make it a Class 1 misdemeanor to leave a child under 10 alone in a car, the same penalty provided by state endangerment codes.
It also would require a child under 10 to be with a child over age 14 when left in a car. If two children were locked in a car, one under 10 and one under 14, a parent still would still be charged under the new law, City Attorney Mike Rankin said.
Leaving the keys in a car with the car running also would draw the misdemeanor penalty, said Rankin, because a stranger could open the door and drive away with the child, or the child could drive away himself.
The new law mandates a minimum $1,000 fine, which state law does not do. In addition, Trasoff's proposal allows for a diversion program of 24 hours of counseling and parenting programs to set aside the fine, while state law doesn't allow for that, Rankin said.
