Shew earns Child Passenger Safety Technician Instructor of the Year

Sheriff’s employee Raymond Shew remembers when his children were infants and were using cars seats.

He read the manual about child passenger safety seats for both of his children but later learned the seats were installed incorrectly.

“Had we had a crash, it could have been bad,” Shew said.

Those memories guided him to become a child passenger safety technician 11 years ago. Later, organizers encouraged Shew to become a child passenger safety technician instructor.

He works as a tele-communicator for the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office.

The Tennessee Highway Safety Office honored Shew as the Child Passenger Safety Instructor of the Year during the LifeSavers Conference last week in Murfreesboro.

“It was a huge surprise,” Shew said of the award. “I don’t feel like I personally deserved it. We are all instructors of the year because we give 110 percent.”

Shew teaches law enforcement officers, paramedics, firefighters and other Tennessee residents about how to install child passenger seats safely under a THSO grant.

He has instructed between 500 and 1,000 people.

Shew appreciates his supervisor, Lt. Candi McCluskey, for allowing him to serve as a child safety passenger technician for the sheriff’s office’s child passenger seat safety events.

Pictured: Tele-communicator Raymond Shew, left, is congratulated by Sheriff Mike Fitzhugh by winning the Child Passenger Safety Technician of the Year award.