‘Unequal application of the law’: Sheriff pauses issuing school zone speeding tickets

As bills to ban or regulate school zone speed cameras are taken up under the Gold Dome, Bibb County Sheriff David Davis is not signing off on traffic citations because of what he says is an “unequal application of the law.”

As of 6:30 p.m. on March 19, the sheriff’s office stopped signing citations for violations reported by Altumint, the company that owns the cameras and contracts with the county to use them.

“We are using discretion at this point to not approve citations,” Davis said, adding that some schools have opted out of having the cameras while others cannot. “I want to get some more clarity on who exactly can opt in and out.”  

Public schools in the Bibb County School District cannot individually opt out. An agreement with the county signed by Superintendent Dan Sims requires a 45-day notice to the county should the district decide it no longer wants the cameras. 

The cameras are installed outside private schools too, but were taken offline at the behest of school headmasters who received complaints from parents. 

“I think we’ve seen a little bit of an unequal application of the law when you have some people who want to have them and some people who don’t have a choice,” Davis said.

The first speed cameras were installed outside Bibb County public schools in April 2022. As of Feb. 7, the cameras had generated more than $8.4 million in revenue for the county, according to records of payments and disbursements The Melody obtained through a request under the Georgia Open Records Act.

Witt Gaither, chairman of the governing board at Academy for Classical Education, a public state charter school on the north end of the county, said, “a Bibb County Deputy arrived on campus and told the admin team they needed to sign a letter to install the cameras. The situation was not presented as an option, but more a formality.”

Stratford Academy spokesperson Caryn Grant said the school did not ask for the cameras, but agreed to have them installed upon being approached by the county. Stratford has since asked the county to halt the camera operations.

Davis said independent schools’ administrators were under no obligation to sign off on the cameras. 

“Nobody coerced anybody to make this decision to have these cameras placed in front of these schools,” he said. “They wanted it. They were interested in being a part of the program and were allowed to sign on. Then for whatever reason they decided to change their mind. … All it takes for private schools is the headmaster calls and says, ‘We don’t want this anymore.’ 

“I think it needs to be uniform for whatever criteria where we’re going to put them,” Davis said. 

The cameras are still recording violations, but Davis said the sheriff’s office has no plan to retroactively issue tickets should the legislature approve a bill that would regulate automated speed cameras.  

Another bill, introduced by Rep. Dale Washburn, R-Macon, would ban automated speed detection cameras altogether. 

Both of those bills have cleared the House and are in the Senate where they have been read and referred to the public safety committee. 

A senate bill, sponsored by 24 senators including Sen. Rick Williams, R-Milledgeville, who represents a portion of Bibb County, would create standards for warning motorists about automated camera traffic enforcement including red light cameras.