{"id":296270,"date":"2026-06-04T20:17:30","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T20:17:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/296270\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T20:17:30","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T20:17:30","slug":"tampa-advances-school-zone-camera-expansion-despite-contractor-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/296270\/","title":{"rendered":"Tampa advances school zone camera expansion despite contractor concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Tampa City Council took the first step toward an expansion of the city\u2019s school-zone speed camera program<\/a>, but the vote came with enough caveats to make clear the issue is not settled.<\/p>\n

Council members approved the ordinance on first reading, setting up a final public hearing and second vote on July 16.<\/p>\n

The city currently has 12 schools with speed cameras. If approved, the ordinance increases that number to 18, with cameras being placed in school zones identified as averaging between 200 and 3,000 potential violations per day, according to a new speed study.<\/p>\n

Only six of the initial 12 schools are included in the updated list, meaning the move would bring new cameras to 12 new schools across the city overall.<\/p>\n

Several Council members who voted \u201cyes\u201d said their support comes with apprehension.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Council members expressed concern that the study used to justify the expansion was conducted by the same contractor, RedSpeed<\/a>, that would benefit from the proposal. They also noted that RedSpeed is known to share camera data with Flock Safety, which shares data with law enforcement databases. That gave rise to questions about how information gathered through them could be used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).\u00a0<\/p>\n

Other members were concerned about the use of revenue raised, indicating that they prefer the funds be dedicated back toward school safety.<\/p>\n

Despite the vote to move forward, Council members asked city staff to return before the final vote with more information about RedSpeed. Questions included whether the City Council could terminate the contract early, if other vendors are available, whether the city could piggyback on another contract, and whether RedSpeed will sign an affidavit prohibiting the company from sharing Tampa\u2019s camera data with Flock.<\/p>\n

Council members also asked legal and mobility staff to come back with a draft ordinance requiring revenue from school-zone camera penalties to be used solely for school safety efforts.<\/p>\n

The result was a tentative step forward for the Tampa Police Department, which argued the cameras are needed to slow drivers near schools. But it also reflected growing discomfort among Council members over privacy, surveillance, vendor selection and whether the city should rely on cameras as its primary tool to protect students.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Council Member Luis Viera<\/a> made the motion to advance the ordinance, arguing that concerns about potential misuse should not block what he views as a proper use of the cameras.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a bunch of issues that we\u2019re discussing now that essentially talk about the potential misuse of this ordinance, and I don\u2019t think the potential misuse of the ordinance should preclude the reasonable use and proper use of this ordinance on something that\u2019s very important to a lot of communities on issues of safety for children,\u201d Viera said.<\/p>\n

Council Member Bill Carlson<\/a> said he supported the ordinance on first reading because rejecting it would leave the current locations in place. He said the existing list is concentrated heavily in East Tampa, while the proposed list spreads cameras more broadly throughout the city.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He noted that the city is estimating $14.7 million in first-year revenue, with about $10 million net to the city after other costs or distributions. He said if the money is used for anything other than school safety, residents will view the program as a cash grab.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIn terms of the argument about a cash grab or not cash grab, I think that\u2019s going to be the next discussion. It depends on what we do with the $10 million. It says we can use it for school safety or public safety, so if we use it for anything other than school safety then it\u2019s going to look to the public like a cash grab,\u201d Carlson said.<\/p>\n

He made a motion asking legal and mobility staff to draft an ordinance requiring the money to be used only for school-zone mobility infrastructure designed to deter speeding. Council members discussed possibilities such as raised crosswalks, road narrowing, flashing signs and broader safety improvements near schools.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea should not be about collecting money,\u201d Carlson said. \u201cIt should be about stopping people from speeding through these areas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Council Member Lynn Hurtak<\/a> also voted \u201cyes,\u201d but said she was also doing so to move the cameras around. Hurtak pressed concerns about RedSpeed and Flock, and asked staff to research options for amending or ending the existing contract.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The contract was negotiated by Mayor Jane Castor\u2019s Office, and is a piggyback agreement tacked on to Hillsborough County\u2019s contract with RedSpeed \u2014 raising concern that the Council may not have their hand on the wheel if disagreements over Flock integration arise.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went back and read the Hillsborough County RFP, and all it does is talk about how it integrates with Flock, it\u2019s the only one that integrates with Flock, and again throughout the country all we\u2019ve heard is that Flock is integrating with ICE. We can say we don\u2019t want it all we want, but clearly that\u2019s what they are good at and that\u2019s what they\u2019re known for,\u201d Hurtak said.<\/p>\n

Messmer said RedSpeed could provide an affidavit stating that it will not send Tampa\u2019s data to Flock under the city\u2019s contract. The Council later approved a motion made by Hurtak directing staff to obtain that affidavit before the July 16 hearing.<\/p>\n

The Council also asked staff to return with information on any other contracts with different vendors the city might be able to piggyback on instead of RedSpeed at her behest.<\/p>\n

Hurtak also called on Castor\u2019s administration to weigh in on Flock concerns.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to hear from the administration, after what we have heard from the public, what they are willing to do to end this contract and enter with a company that is not Flock supported,\u201d Hurtak said.<\/p>\n

Council Chair Alan Clendenin<\/a> was the lone \u201cno\u201d vote on the expansion, saying his issue was not only with RedSpeed, but with automated camera enforcement generally.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy are we splitting revenue with a vendor and not using our own police force to enforce our laws?\u201d Clendenin said. \u201cI mean, this is really honestly privatizing enforcement action to cameras that you can\u2019t cross-examine. That\u2019s just a slippery slope for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clendenin also said he regretted previous support for the camera program.<\/p>\n

The ordinance now heads to a July 16 public hearing and final vote. Until then the expansion remains alive, but it seems far from final.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Tampa City Council took the first step toward an expansion of the city\u2019s school-zone speed camera program,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":165771,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[28772,52111,22518,28776,28777,5320,4186,135,610,137,136,31891],"class_list":["post-296270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-alan-clendenin","tag-bill-carlson","tag-hillsborough-county-schools","tag-luis-viera","tag-lynn-hurtak","tag-redspeed","tag-school-zone","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-city-council","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-traffic-cameras"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296270\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/165771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}