At the June 19th Tallahassee city commission meeting, elected officials voted unanimously to negotiate a contract with RedSpeed Florida, LLC. for the City of Tallahassee School Speed Zone Enforcement program.
Under the program, revenues will be generated based on the issuance of the notice of violation. Amounts will be dependent upon the method of implementation, driver behavior, and the effectiveness of the preventative nature of the program.
City costs will be incurred for the administration of the program, including the initial review of infractions, review of appeals, contract administration, and reporting requirements. It is anticipated that any costs incurred from implementation of this program will be supported by program-generated revenues. The vendor fee for service will be deducted from revenues collected by the vendor.
On April 10, 2024, the City introduced the ordinance that provided for the use of traffic infraction detectors and established the process for program administration of a School Speed Zone Enforcement Program in accordance with statutory requirements. This included the authorization to enter into agreements with one or more vendors to place or install speed detection systems and carry out services consistent with program implementation and operation.
Following approval of the ordinance on May 8, 2024, the City issued a request for proposal to solicit responses from vendors to implement and administer the program at identified school locations within the city limits.
A total of seven vendor responses were received and scored by the RFP evaluation committee. Based on the results of this process, the Tallahassee Police Department (TPD) is requesting approval for the city manager to negotiate and execute a contract with the highest scoring vendor, RedSpeed Florida, LLC.
The Tallahassee School Speed Zone Enforcement program will probably issue tickets for speeding 24/7 and not just when the school zones lights are flashing.
There are a lot of school zones in Tallahassee so it will cover a good portion of the city.
Why not include all major streets in town and drop the school safety narrative? It's just a money grab by the city.
If TPD were to be present and write the Tickets, THEY get to keep 100% of the Money and possibly be able to hire MORE Officers.
Furthermore... the City just raised taxes to "put more LEOs on the streets". Well, put more LEOs on the streets to address this as well. We know where the bus stops are, and we know where the problem is. Pay my $100 and buy me a coke, and I'll hand you an excel spreadsheet with a rotation schedule. Then increase the fine to $2000. When they argue in court that it's too much, simply ask them to put a price on a child's life.... (pause) ... problem solved.
The job is to "Serve and Protect", not "Observe and Collect". John is 100% correct on this. It's a revenue generator is all... the actual safety of children be damned.
Tickets are issued based on vehicle tag number which is then attributed to whom purchased the vehicle's tag.
Sometimes the driver of the vehicle accused of speeding is not the owner of the vehicle.
Traffic courts have excused speeding tickets issued based on vehicle tag because it can't be proven owner of the vehicle is the actual driver at the time of the alleged speeding violation.
Moreover, when a company is dependent on revenue based upon alleged traffic violations, rest assured many more alleged violations will occur.