Rome school board OKS speed cameras near Main Elementary on MLK Boulevard

The Rome Board of Education unanimously agreed on Thursday to allow the city to install Redspeed cameras near Main Elementary School on Martin Luther King Boulevard.

Red Speed cameras give out tickets for speeding during school traffic hours, with 65% of the revenue going to the Rome Police Department and the remaining 35% going to the Redspeed company, Superintendent Louis Byars said. The funds the police department receives are only able to be used for public safety measures, he added.

The city conducted a traffic study near Main Elementary from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. last November and recorded 750 speeding violations, Byars stated. There were 232 violations in the two hours before school started, and 295 violations after school ended, which are times when children are walking to and from school.

Though the city asked state lawmakers to remove the school approval requirement to install the device, the proposal failed, Byars stated.

“In summary, the Red Speed offer at Main would help us keep kids safe,” board member Melissa Davis said. “The income from the tickets go to the Rome City Police Department: 65%. The school doesn’t get anything, but we’re in the business of keeping kids safe.”

Due to a school resource officer shortage, the board asked the police department if the money collected from Redspeed could go to supplying a SRO. But board member Will Byington noted that the police department itself is short on officers.

Byars said he hopes the Redspeed cameras will free up resources for the police department that will help them recruit enough officers to assign an SRO.

The board started the meeting Thursday with a closed session for legal and personnel matters that started at 5:31 p.m. and lasted until 6:02 p.m.