No speeding problems on Main Street; police dept. hiring
By Barb Pert Templeton
A recent Marine City Commission meeting had Police Chief Jim Heaslip updating officials on several issues related to his department.
On Oct. 19 Heaslip began by telling officials that a plan to install cameras around town from FLOCK safety system has been paused for now.
Heaslip got approval to purchase six cameras plus the cost for installation for $17,000 in Aug. 2022. He was going to use a $15,000 donation from St. Clair County Commissioner David Vendenbossche via American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) 2021 funds to purchase the equipment. Then the balance was to be paid from drug forfeiture funds.
Marine City Police Chief Jim Heaslip
“Ultimately, from that time until now I still have not paid a bill. that project is paused, our cameras are completely not installed, they are very, very difficult to work with,” Heaslip said.
Heaslip said he spoke with Commissioner Vandenbossche about the project and he’s now pulling the plug on it and he’s had conversations with FLOCK and they are going to come and remove all the cameras.
“We are finding we are getting a lot of false hits on the cameras where it would show a license plate on our system and it wasn’t even the right plate that was marked as a stolen auto, we were getting more bad hits then good hits,” Heaslip said.
He wants to shift the project funds into purchasing and upgraded body cameras for his officers. The units are all about four years old now.
“I talked to the guys and I’m finding out their cameras are dying about three quarters of the way through their shift and they’re going to be needing an upgrade within a year anyway,” Heaslip said.
He said he’s currently using a demo of the body cameras to see how they operate.
“So far what I’ve captured is it’s better quality, it’s a wider field of view, and it takes away any of the wind noise,” Heaslip said. “It’s a better system, it’s a better camera overall and I’m excited to present that to you on November 2.”
No speeding problems on Main
The police chief also talked about recent concerns some citizens have expressed about speeding problems on south Main Street downtown. He said he and his officers set up radar units and left them in ghost mode for 13 days, capturing the data on the morning of Oct. 19.
“North bound Main Street, that was set in the 500 block of South Main, captured vehicles going northbound,” Heaslip said, adding they talk about the 85th percentile of speed of when setting the units. “The 85th percentile from Oct. 6 to Oct. 19 was about 29 miles per hour which indicates to me there is not a speeding problem there.”
He said he knows there are people who speed through there but it’s not a real issue.
On north bound Main Street the unit was able to count 15,4449 cars traveling there while south bound the number of cars was 11, 984.
“It’s really kind of eye opening to see that many cars that actually traverse that road,” Heaslip said.
All of the data gathered is available for anyone to review at the police department, he added.
“I just wanted to let you know that I don’t believe there is a speeding problem there,” Heaslip said.
Commissioner Brian Ross asked for clarification of what putting the units in “ghost mode” means. The chief said it means no speed rate is shown but the unit is recording as the cars pass.
“The first week we leave them in ghost mode and capture the data and the second week we flip them on so you can see your own speed, so we can actually see the signs are working and slowing people down,” Heaslip said. “And every single time we’ve done that it proves that when someone sees their speed they do slow down.”
The police chief concluded his report by adding that his department is currently hiring officers and encouraged interested candidates to pick up an application.
