DAYTON — A new plan proposed by city of Dayton leaders has money collected from fines in school zones now going towards purchasing body cameras for police.
Dayton Public Schools students returned to in-person learning recently which also means school zone cameras are back in operation.
“It’s been over, well, just about a year that they’ve been out and now that the lights are back on and flashing, it took me by surprise this morning,” Audrey Willis said about the school zone signs.
Dayton police officers began extra patrols once school buses began their routes.
The officers spotted four drivers passing school buses with lights and stop signs activated and nine speed violations in active school zones.
The speed cameras documented almost 400 driving violations.
“There’s a lot of distracted driving now with cell phones,” said Eric Henderson, assistant police chief.
Henderson said they are concerned about the large amount of dangerous driving they saw in the first week back to in-person learning.
“It’s very frightening to think a child could be crossing the street at that time,” he said.
The city announced that it will be directing the money collected through this safety enforcement to pay the price tag for body worn cameras.
The department experienced several positive uses for the body cams during a trial run and plans to outfit every officer with one.
The fine for being caught speeding on a school zone camera is $85.
Cox Media Group
