Overland Park police are patrolling parking lots, looking for kids and dogs left in hot cars.
Amid an excessive heat warning, the Overland Park Police Department is devoting resources to make sure kids and animals aren't left behind.
Officer Chad Vanlanker said with Friday's 110 degree heat index, temperatures inside cars can skyrocket to 120 or more.
“I mean with as sunny as it is today, that could do that in just minutes,” Vanlanker said.
The department told us most calls are for pets left in cars. Kids are less common and usually unintentionally left in the backseat.
“We all have such busy lives. The ones I’ve been on, they just forgot they had their child with them,” Vanlanker said of calls to which he responded.
In Kansas and Missouri, if you’re waiting on police to arrive and a child is in bad shape, you are legally allowed to break the window.
“If the kid’s in distress, we definitely don’t want to see it get worse,” Vanlanker added.
