Orange Park Explores Expanding Police Cameras

Rancorous Meeting Discusses Installing Them at School Speed Zones

Photo by Pawel Czerwinski on Unsplash

The Public Safety Public Works Committee of Orange Park meets once a month. The meetings consist of mundane subjects like sidewalks and what color bike lanes should be painted. But the committee's purview also includes a long-time sticky subject for the town: the use of red light cameras at intersections.

The contract for the cameras, which generate between $400,000 and $500,000 in funding yearly, is up for renewal soon.

During their Tuesday meeting, the committee received a presentation on red light cameras in Clay County from Dave Coughlin, an Orange Park resident and local expert. As the committee makes recommendations about the town's safety, Coughlin presented data from the Florida Department of Transportation regarding safety at the red-light-camera intersections.

According to Coughlin, data shows that red light cameras have not reduced traffic accidents and incidents. The committee, which consists of two town council members and five residents, reacted to Couglin’s presentation with a mixture of agreement, ambivalence, and outright hostility. Two committee members were sympathetic to the data presented, with one saying that the cameras were nothing more than a money-making scheme.

However, most of the committee was skeptical of any criticism of the cameras. Committee member Daniel Cobreiro was outright hostile to Coughlin. Cobreiro interrogated Coughlin about how many times Coughlin had received tickets for running red lights. Cobreiro, also a member of the Orange Park Town Council, asked to limit the discussion to only committee members after brushing aside Coughlin’s presentation.

The remaining conversation centered on what criteria should be considered in the continued use of the cameras, with several committee members saying the quiet part out loud and admitting revenue was the driving factor. Committee Chair and Vice Mayor Susana Thompson ended the conversation by stating she would attempt to gather more detailed data on the cameras to share with the committee later.

The committee then moved on to a new item: placing cameras in school zones that can issue speeding tickets. Orange Park Police Chief Gary Goble was approached by vendors who offer the cameras and the corresponding ticketing services. Goble confirmed after the meeting that neither he, the town, nor anyone else had identified a need for the cameras.

Goble argued that the cameras would free the town’s officers from having to be at school zones to deter speeding, saying that officers were not available to patrol other roads in the towns while school zones are active in the morning and afternoons. Goble also said the officers would still be present at the school zones, and the real appeal of the cameras was that they could ticket speeders even when the school zones were not active.

Goble brought no data on speeding, traffic, or accidents in school zones to the meeting. When asked for the data, he said he could have pulled it but didn’t because “no one asked for it.” Ultimately, the committee voted to send a request to the town council asking for a traffic study to determine the viability of the cameras in the town’s small number of school zones.

The study would be requested from the companies who sell the cameras, with the study results being reviewed by a third-party expert. The committee will meet again in January, and the school zone cameras will be among the topics discussed then.