Lakeland officials have approved spending more than $380,000 to add speed-detection cameras in school zones, more red-light cameras and surveillance to the city’s streets.
City commissioners approved amending their contract with American Traffic Solutions, which does business under the name Verra Mobility, to add 14 speed-detection cameras to select school zones within city limits.
“These are force multipliers for us,” said Hans Lehman, assistant chief of Lakeland Police Department.
School speed-zone cams are coming
The city’s purchase of speed detection cameras is an amendment to an existing contract with Verra Mobility, rather than bidding out the cameras to other companies.
“We know there are other vendors that would provide these type of school-zone speed cameras,” Deputy City Attorney Ramona Sirianni said. “What we had to do was integrate them into the system we currently utilize for red-light cameras.”
Lehman said the goal is to have the speed-detection systems installed no later than Oct. 1.
Verra Mobility has assured it has the available equipment ready to go, Lehman said, but they will need to obtain permits to install some of the cameras. This could slow down the process.
Based on traffic studies, the speed detection cameras will be installed at:
The cameras will capture video and license plate registration information on drivers traveling more than 10 mph above the posted speed limit. Each potential violation will be reviewed by police department staff before a citation is issued.
Verra Mobility’s contract calls for the company to receive 35% of the city’s revenue. On each $100 ticket, the city receives $60 with other portions going to the state for various programs. Verra will receive $21 of the city’s $60 share on each paid ticket.
Under state law, Lakeland will have to undertake a 30-day education campaign to inform drivers once the cameras are installed before it can begin to issue citations. Drivers do not receive points for these citations and they cannot be used to increase an individual’s car insurance rate.
Lakeland gets more red light cameras
Lakeland commissioners approved purchasing eight new red-light cameras from Verra Mobility on June 16. These will be added to the 19 existing cameras in use across the city.
The city will pay $3,800 a month for each of the eight new red-light camera systems. That’s about $365,000 a year.
The new expense will be partially offset as Verra has lowered its monthly charge for 15 of the city’s existing cameras from $4,250 to $3,800 a month, an annual savings of about $81,000.
Tess Schwartz, the city’s traffic operations manager, has recommended the red-light cameras be installed at the following intersections to aid in the city’s Vision Zero plan, of no fatal or serious car accidents:
Mayor Bill Mutz noted that many navigational apps, including Google Maps, have started adding warnings when drivers approach red-light camera monitored intersections.
“It makes you go slower through the intersection. The goal of a presence of a red-light camera is to make it safer to go through the intersection,” he said. “These enhancements are good for us.”
Lehman said the number of possible violations reviewed by LPD staff each year has gradually increased from 50,000 to near 60,000 cases. It’s an indication of the increasing population and resulting traffic on local roads.
Police get 8 automatic license plate readers
Lakeland police department will obtain eight automatic license plate readers, or ALPRS, from Verra Mobility’s subcontractor, Flock Mobility, to install along city-owned streets as part of the contract.
Flock Safety is an Atlanta-based company that sells automatic license plate detection readers. Its website says more than 2,000 law enforcement agencies across the nation deploy its cameras in more than 2,500 communities. Flock Safety claims its cameras help reduce crime by more than 70%.
Flock Safety’s website lays out in detail that its cameras have a patented “Vehicle Fingerprint” technology that collects visual, environmental and contextual information about vehicles it scans:
Lehman while saying the reader are a “force multiplier” said that its value can’t easily be quantified.
“We’ve had some cases where it’s helped us solve shootings within an hour or two,” he said. “They’re all over the city, county and state and networked together.”
The Polk County Sheriff’s Office has a contract with Flock that has put many license plate readers on the road, and numerous municipal agencies have piggybacked on that contract.
Flock’s cameras are seen as controversial by some as the video footage and data gathered by the company is uploaded to its software database. This central database is searchable by “authorized end users,” such as Lakeland’s police detectives, who can also set up a “hot list” and receive alerts when a certain vehicle passes a camera.
These Flock cameras are also sold to schools, neighborhood homeowner associations and even small businesses for parking lot security. These users can potentially access information uploaded by Lakeland Police Department.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Lakeland buys speed cameras for school zones, more red-light cams and license plate readers
Reporting by Sara-Megan Walsh, Lakeland Ledger / The Ledger
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