Polk County Commissioners heard from Police Chief Kenny Dodd during their July 6 work session about the potential for the need for speed cameras within two school zones that are under the department’s jurisdiction.

Commissioners did have their concerns about both privacy for drivers going through speed cameras, whether they would operate only during school hours and how fine collections would be handled during a long presentation from Dodd, who reported that the department is looking into the idea but hasn’t yet spent money on the project, and would have additional paperwork to complete with the state before any move to install cameras could go forward.

Dodd’s presentation on the HB 978 that allows radar cameras to go up in school zones would charge a civil fine via Redspeed, a company who already has cameras in jurisdictions primarily in Alabama and Texas. The company would operate the cameras and provide citations of speeders going 10 mph or over in a school zone during the school day.

“It is completely a civil fine, there’s no points on your license, it doesn’t affect your insurance and the legislature put in the code section that you do have the right to take it to court – either probate court or superior court – and fight it if you choose to do so,” Dodd explained.

He said that it would come at no cost to the county, and would tie in to every laptop for the police department throughout the county.

Because the cameras would also include a tag reader, those notifications of violations caught by those who are driving in a school zone during any time of the day can also be sent to police laptops, and allow officers to track down everything from those driving on a suspended license, to individuals who are banned from being in a school zone having already been convicted of more serious charges for those who are on the sex offenders list locally, statewide and nationally.

“I think it is a good opportunity for us to improve our school zone safety,” he said. “Studies have shown that even a five mile an hour reduction in speed can save lives.”

Dodd proved his point by presenting a traffic study of the Youngs Grove Elementary School and Van Wert Elementary, one of two within the county’s jurisdiction proper. Within an 8 hour period during the study conducted in both school zones, Dodd said that 991 speeders were reported through Van Wert Elementary area, and another 208 on Antioch Road going through Youngs Grove. If implemented, Dodd’s hope is to also include Wooten Road within the area around Youngs Grove as well, though it will require being added to the Department of Transportation’s list of roads to study for traffic changes, like speed limit designations or including a section in a school zone.

First offenders caught speeding by the cameras if installed would face a $75 fine, with a $125 fine for each violation after, Dodd said.

Commissioners did have their concerns about the system. How much of the collections would the county get, how fines are collected and what process individuals looking to go to court and challenge the speed camera is among the top items they discussed during 30 minutes of time spent on the delegation during the July 6 work session. See the video above for a more comprehensive report of t he discussion.

The commission did not vote on the speed cameras during their regular session on July 7.