to test equipment, and the district had control over five systems that capture stop-arm violations as well as internal video. Te district now manages all of the systems. “We want our drivers watching students. Tey really don’t have time to look at and capture the license plate of someone blowing through the stop arm,”
said Casey, who said he was stunned at the increased number of violations that were automatically recorded. But, there was a hitch: Nebraska law does not provide for stop-arm, red-light or speeding cameras or third-party ticket writers. Bellevue Police Chief Mark Elbert was willing to write tickets, but determined violators confronted with
video evidence have been as repentant as if ticketed and heavily fined. “We’ve not gone to court yet because
we’ve not written tickets,” Casey said. “Te Bellevue police will write a ticket if we have a repeat offender, but otherwise, we’re going with warnings.”
Casey said he has promoted the cameras as the focus of local media coverage to raise public awareness about the dangers of stop- arm running. During the last school year, all of the Bellevue district’s drivers, combined, reported 165 stop-arm violations between Aug. 15 and March 1. Tis school year, the cameras installed on just those five buses captured 118 violations in the same period— and provided irrefutable evidence. Meanwhile, most of the Wa-Nee school
district’s 53 buses are equipped with four interior-facing cameras. “I have cameras on board to protect
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drivers. I have a great staff, so it’s not about babysitting them,” Rosa said. “Te cameras are there in case someone accuses them of something or in case kids have something happen.” She cited an episode in which the district faced the possibility of legal action from parents whose youngster claimed an- other child had threatened to harm her. A review of video proved the second student was never nearby and it was the accuser who was the source of trouble. “Te cam- era told the truth; she was the only person threatening her safety by the way she was seated,” Rosa said. Meanwhile, Rosa recalled that she is considering the inclusion of dash and stop-arm cameras in future purchases, if local law enforcement and prosecutors are committed to pursuing violators. But, she added, “I don’t want to lose any cameras inside.” “We can’t control what everyone else is doing around the bus, but we can control our kids. … We’ll never know how much video deters (incidents) because our drivers remind the kids of the camera and you can’t measure what doesn’t happen,” she said. ●
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56 School Transportation News • MAY 2016
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