The city of Campbell recently took a step forward to make student safety a top priority.

Motorists started receiving tickets for speeding in school zones during the first week of February after the Campbell Police Department started posting officers in school zones with cameras linked to a system that automatically distributes speeding citations.

Campbell police Chief Kevin Sferra recently told our reporter that some motorists were caught driving anywhere between 45 mph and 80 mph past the school buildings. Sferra said his officers issued 700 tickets in one week.

However, Campbell police officers can’t be in every school zone, so the city has installed mounted cameras along the streets near Campbell’s school buildings.

Bravo!

This newspaper believes that student safety should always be prioritized and after identifying a problem, both the city and the school district have taken the necessary precautions to ensure that.

As Sferra told our reporter, a car driving 20 mph could injure someone, but the repercussions of a car driving 45 mph or more could be severe.

“If you hit a child at 45 mph or 60 mph, you’re talking about a death or very severe injury,” he said.

However, while this newspaper understands the significance of student safety, it also wants to stress the importance of having a plan in place.

Youngstown followed a similar practice last year by installing speed cameras in school zones of the Youngstown City School District. It also contracted the same Tennessee-based company — Blue Line Solutions — as Campbell. However, the city then ran into problems as there was a dispute between the municipal court and the city administration about citation appeals.

The cameras in the YCSD school zones were turned on in phases Feb. 21, 2023, and were in use at 19 schools. In just three months, this newspaper reported that 22,424 speeding citations were issued and about 300 of those citations were being contested. The cameras were turned off between May 18 and June 2 when schools were out of session but were never turned back on when school started due to issues with the court system.

Let’s not repeat history.

As Youngstown Municipal Court Administrator David Magura Jr. wrote in a Sept. 11 email to city officials, “Rushing this process without due diligence could lead to unintended consequences and complications in our operations.”

This newspaper commends Campbell for not rushing its process. Sferra told our reporter that the police department is working with Campbell Municipal Court Judge Mark Kolmacic to determine how to avoid the same problem Youngstown encountered.

Their first plan was to have a local attorney serve as a hearing officer for citation appeals and hear cases one evening every month.

But, according to Sferra, the Ohio Supreme Court says it now has to run through the court. Because of that, Kolmacic plans to consult a mentor, Girard Municipal Court Judge Jeffrey Adler, about how Girard manages its speed camera citations.

The city’s cameras already are installed and in place, but have yet to be turned on. If they are, they will begin sending out warning citations for the first 30 days.

A good plan takes time, and while this newspaper understands the importance of student safety, let us make sure the plan to keep the students safe can remain intact for the long run.