‘Significant errors': Sheriff suspends Miami school district's bus camera program
The controversial school bus camera ticketing program that sent $225 fines to drivers in Miami-Dade County is being suspended, Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz announced Thursday.
The program started in May and has since impacted more than 100,000 drivers accused of illegally passing stopped school buses after the vehicles' stop arms were extended. The sheriff pointed to major errors in tickets that were issued and the inability of people to appeal their citations for the cancellation of the program.
'Unfortunately, upon extensive review of the program, we've identified significant errors in the [Uniform Traffic Violations] that were issued and mailed by BusPatrol,' Cordero-Stutz said during a press briefing at the sheriff office's Doral headquarters. 'These errors are unacceptable, and they undermine both the fairness and the trust of the system.'
A joint investigation by the Miami Herald and The Tributary, a Florida-based not-for-profit newsroom, published in early March found that many motorists who did nothing wrong were receiving violation notices and were unable to challenge them.
The investigation also revealed the contract with BusPatrol, the company that administers the program, was signed in a hasty manner by the school district, without a bidding process. The contract, which generates revenue for the district, was signed just 12 days after the school board asked staff to do a 'feasibility study' on the program.
The School Bus Safety Program kickstarted last year, with BusPatrol installing cameras on all Miami-Dade school buses to catch motorists in the act of illegally passing a school bus with its 'stop-arm' extended. Revenue numbers provided by the school district indicate the program was flagging more than 407 paid violations per day, seven days a week, generating a staggering $19.5 million in the first six months of the program.
Soon after the Herald/Tributary report, Cordero-Stutz announced she was suspending enforcement of some of the tickets after receiving complaints.
'Break in the chain of communication'
At the Thursday press conference, Cordero-Stutz pointed out more problems with the program. Many of the Uniform Traffic Citations issued did not have the correct citation number on them and the wrong fee amount, making it 'impossible for our community to resolve their violations within the required 30-day period by either paying the correct fine or requesting an appeal,' she said.
The errors meant thousands of people also faced having their driver's licenses suspended. This is because the fees on the citations were actually amounts for what are known as 'Notice of Violations' — a $225 fine.
A Uniform Traffic Citation fine is $344. When people who received tickets for passing a stopped bus paid the $225, the system still showed they owed $119, and the state received a notice that their driver's licenses should be suspended, Juan Fernandez-Barquin, Miami-Dade Clerk of the Court and Comptroller, said during the briefing.
And, since the numbers on the citations were wrong, when people came in to the Clerk of the Court's office to file an appeal for their tickets, staff couldn't even find it in the system.
'It's this break in the chain of communication, in not just the amount, but even in the ability to identify the ticket, that puts these people in a precarious situation,' Fernandez-Barquin said.
The break in the chain of communication goes as far back as the language of the law allowing school bus camera programs statewide. A statement from the Miami-Dade Courts from April 8 said that in similar legislation where technology is used to detect traffic infractions, such as the state's red light camera law and school zone speed detection law, challenges are not heard by the courts but by county administrative staff who are assigned to preside as 'local hearing officers.'
But in school bus camera law, the burden of hearing complaints 'was placed on the courts without providing funding for the appointment of more judges or hearing officers to handle this new volume of cases,' leading to delays, the statement said.
Cordero-Stutz said that her deputies' role in the program was to review Notices of Violations sent to the department by BusPatrol. If the deputies confirmed a driver did illegally pass a school bus, a Uniform Traffic Citation was mailed to that person, Cordero-Stutz said.
Cordero-Stutz sent a letter to BusPatrol Thursday, which was shared with the Miami Herald, informing the company that deputies would no longer be reviewing violation notices.
'Our commitment to traffic safety and the needs of our community remains unwavering. It is, however, equally critical that enforcement programs operate with the highest levels of accuracy, transparency and public trust,' Cordero-Stutz wrote.
The sheriff said at the briefing that the sheriff's office has asked BusPatrol to identify how the errors occurred.
'Concerns must be fully investigated and resolved,' she said.
Miami-Dade County Public Schools says they have been informed that the sheriff's office has discontinued the program, and that they are still determining next steps.
Drivers who have received either Notices of Violations or Uniform Traffic Citations under the program prior to Thursday's announcement must still pay the fines, the sheriff said. But, moving forward, the program is suspended, she said.
Cordero-Stutz admitted this left people who already paid the fines with limited options.
'At this time, all I have to say is they have the opportunity to speak to their own personal attorney to seek what their rights are,' she said.
Nandhini Srinivasan, an investigative reporting fellow with The Tributary, a Florida nonprofit investigative newsroom, contributed to this report.
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