Santa Rosa County Commissioners tomorrow morning will host one of two public hearings required to amend county ordinances to allow automated law enforcement of speeding in school zones, using cameras and citations issued by an automated process. The board would manage any revenues generated by the new system.
The automated equipment will utilize radar or LIDAR to detect speeding and capture a photograph or video of the rear of vehicle exceeding the speed limit by 10 mph during school zone times.
The first public hearing is scheduled for 8:30 a.m., Thursday, April 9 at the County Administrative Complex, located at 6495 Caroline Street in Milton. The agenda for that meeting does not provide any supporting documentation detailing on how much the equipment, including software, would cost, nor how much revenue such a system would bring into county coffers.
The idea for the new type of law enforcement came from a third-party vendor which approached the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office.
“The Sheriff’s Office was approached by an outside entity regarding this option, and all information provided has been forwarded to the Board of County Commissioners for their review and consideration should they decide to move forward,” said SRSO Public Information Officer Christi Calabro.
Calabro said SRSO met with Santa Rosa County District Schools to discuss the installation of school zone cameras. “In the interest of student safety, the district has expressed full support for this program.”
Commissioners have expressed support for the new system, citing public safety.
However, local Constitutionalists are vehemently opposed. Nathan DiPietro, vice president of the West Florida Young Republicans states:
“Benjamin Franklin said ‘That it is better one hundred guilty persons should escape than that one innocent person should suffer is a maxim that has been long and generally approved.’
While that may seem a little difficult to wrap your mind around, that is what the constitutional right of due process means.
In America we have the fundamental belief that government does not get to punish someone for a crime that they think probably happened. No, they must prove the person actually did the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.
Everyone readily admits that the driver of the car is often not the owner. And yet, if someone gets a red light ticket or speeding ticket and that ticket is not paid, the owner (who may not even be the one guilty of a crime) could lose his license.
How is that due process? The government assumes I am guilty and makes me show up to court if I want to prove I am innocent? That’s the very opposite of what due process means.”
A second required public hearing would be scheduled in the evening. Subsequently, if Commissioners approve the automated law enforcement system, citizens would be required to go through a legal process to correct tickets wrongfully issued by the automated system.
