Some Habersham citizens are criticizing the City of Baldwin’s radar cameras outside of Baldwin Elementary School in the school zone, calling them a speed trap and revenue source for the city.
The cameras in the school zone, operated by Blue Line Solutions, send a $100 ticket to people going more than 11 miles per hour over the speed limit within the school zone. Since the system began generating tickets, the city has received $190,050 in ticket revenue after Blue Line takes 35 percent of the paid ticket. Those funds have been used for initiatives to improve the city’s public safety departments.
The public discussion sparked when former Baldwin Councilman Jeff Parrish approached the Baldwin City Council Monday night to discuss issues he, and other citizens, have with the speed zone. He raised a series of concerns surrounding ticket contesting, legalities and the reasoning for the speed zone.
Now, the school superintendent and the city’s police chief are responding.
In compliance with the law
Baldwin Police Chief Jeff Branyon says that much of the information Parrish shared in the meeting was misleading.
Parrish told the council he believed the city is illegally running the speed cameras because the city does not have a 24/7 police department, which he says Georgia law requires cities who run radar speed-checking technology to have. He also said that people were not able to contest the tickets they received from the third-party agency that issues them.
Branyon says Parrish’s comments about not being able to contest a ticket in the city’s municipal court aren’t true, and that contesting school zone tickets is a regular occurrence in the Baldwin Municipal Court. He went on to say that the city is in compliance with state laws surrounding radar usage, contrary to Parrish’s comments to the council.
“[The law] does state that you have to have 24-hour coverage, or, and that’s the word that I think he’s neglecting, or full-time employed certified officers who are speed certified, and that we have an on-call status when there’s somebody not here,” Branyon said. “We meet those requirements under the department of public safety regulations. I have discussed this with the department of public safety, we’ve also discussed it with our city legal counsel. We are in compliance with state law.”
Parrish suggested to the council that they put a Baldwin Police Officer in charge of monitoring the school zone for speeders, and while Branyon says the department could do that, they have limited resources.
“I have one or two officers on duty at a time,” Branyon said. “So if that one officer is parked there running speed detection, then they’re not patrolling neighborhoods, are not answering calls for service. They’re not serving any other parts of the community.”
He says the school zone is “a force multiplier,” he doesn’t have to have an officer there for school zone speed enforcement.
“In a perfect world, I’d love to have an officer that could sit in every school zone every day, we just don’t have the resources to do that, Branyon said. “The Blue Line cameras are a . . . force multiplier. It gives me another officer handling an enforcement issue that’s not on my payroll so that my officers are freed up to answer other calls.”
Cheif Branyon says the school zone works, he says that he sees cars slowing down near the school, which is the goal.
“Keeping students safe”
Habersham Schools Superintendent Matthew Cooper says former Baldwin Police Chief Charlie Webb approached him about the school zone as a way to deter drivers from speeding near the school. While Cooper says that he and the Board of Education had nothing to do with the Blue Line cameras being installed— other than his signature on a Georgia Department of Transportation form— he says he supported the police department’s efforts then, and he does now.
“The school system had no contact or agreement with the company that installed the cameras and we play no role in the collection or handling of the tickets that are issued,” Cooper said. “I simply made the decision as superintendent to support the City of Baldwin in their effort to make the school zone safer. That decision was made by me, not the board of education.”
Cooper says he and Baldwin Elementary School Principal Rodney Long believe the school zone makes the road running by the elementary school a safer place for the students and staff on the playground, campus and walking to and from campus.
“The playground is not the only issue in the school zone,” Cooper said. “We have parents who sometimes walk their children across that busy road to get to the school. We have parents, staff, and visitors who use the school zone in the mornings, throughout the day, and in the afternoons.”
Some have suggested the school move all recess to the playground behind the school, but Cooper says the students at Baldwin Elementary need both the back and front playgrounds, and that the playground “will stay where it is.”
Cooper says the school zone is for the protection of students, and that from his standpoint, the only people complaining about the school zone are the ones that got caught speeding in it. He says he won’t apologize for keeping students safe.
“I have no more sympathy for those who speed in a school zone than I do for those who pass a stopped school bus,” Cooper said. “In my ten years as superintendent, I have never apologized for keeping students or staff safe. Part of my job as superintendent is to keep our students safe, and I put a great deal of effort into that responsibility.”
