The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office will promote its child identification cards during the Smoke on the Water Barbecue and Music Festival Saturday, Sept. 17, at Hestand Stadium. The festival will be held from noon to 6 p.m.
Encouraging safety awareness and the importance of child identification are the goals during a visit to the festival, a spokesman said.
Sponsored by the sheriff’s office, the Child Identification Initiative, allows parents and/or guardians the opportunity receive a free ID card for their child.
Sheriff’s office Maj. Lafayette Woods and other officers will talk to children about the importance of safety and provide parents with the ID cards. The card contains a physical description and photograph of the child.
The purpose of the card is to provide critical information to the public and to law enforcement in the event a child goes missing. The sheriff’s office doesn’t keep a record of children’s finger prints. They provide the I.D. Cards and finger prints to the parents. This information can be used if the child is abducted or missing at some point in the future. Parents are then encouraged to store the card in a safe location for future reference if needed, the spokesman said.
Deputies regularly participate in community events, where they provide picture ID’s and fingerprint children for identification purposes.