SF hot topic is ‘all about safety’
Speed cameras to return to city streets
SANTA FE — The return of transportable speed-limit enforcement cameras to Santa Fe was supported by a city committee on Tuesday
The advisory Public Safety Committee on Tuesday voted 4-1 to approve an agreement with Arizona-based Verra Mobility to provide the cameras, which could be installed in vehicles or stand alone on the side of the road to monitor traffic and issue citations to owners of vehicles found to be breaking the speed limit.
The Police Department’s recommendation to approve the proposal was in response to a 2017 City Council resolution to resume the Safe Traffic Operations Program, or S.T.O.P., which was in effect from 2009 to 2013 when the mobile cameras were known, and reviled by many, as “speed vans.”
Police Chief Andrew Padilla said the speed safety cameras would be beneficial to the department because it would free up officers to address other public safety concerns.
“This is a hot topic,” he said, noting the media attention the proposal has attracted, “but it’s all about safety.”
But Mike Bowen, the only committee member to vote against the proposal, said he thought it was about the city finding an additional revenue source. He said the last time the proposal came before the committee, the city had already budgeted money from the program. “That showed me this was just a funding source,” he said.
Deputy Chief Ben Valdez said that’s not what this program is about. “We’re not looking at this as a revenue source,” he said. “We want it to be self-sufficient.”
Valdez said SFPD expected Verra Mobility to collect roughly $643,000 per year from traffic citations and that 60% of that would go to the state of New Mexico. The remaining 40% would be divided between Verra and the department, most of it going to Verra. He said it would cost the department about $60,000 to manage the program.
Valdez said SFPD wasn’t out to create any “gotcha moments” for motorists and that the locations of the cameras would be advertised on social media. The goal was to get people to slow down, he said.
“If we get that, I think it’s well worth it. We just want people to drive safely,” he said.
Valdez said the number of automobile crashes increased significantly after the S.T.O.P. program was discontinued in 2013.
According to information included in the committee’s packet, the city would have options to use two camera-equipped vehicles and four transportable cameras, which Valdez said would be about the size of a mailbox. There is also an option to include handheld devices.
The final cost would depend on the scope of the program, according to a letter from Verra Mobility. The committee also approved a separate item that would set the speeding fines at $50 for a speeding violation, $100 if in a construction or school zone.
The proposal will be heard by the Public Works and Finance committees next month. It could be approved by the City Council as soon as Jan. 29 after a public hearing.