Portage Police Chief Candiano on Friday outlined how school bus cameras are being used to help investigate stop-arm violations, with more than 30 incidents currently under investigation.

Candiano’s full statement can be read below:

“I had intended to update the community on a new plan we were implementing to enforce school bus stop alarm violations, but it appears a large portion of the community was already made aware yesterday through someone self-reporting on Facebook.
“With the amount of busses and miles needing covered compared to Patrol Officers working, it has been nearly impossible to properly enforce these violations over the past years. We have done specific saturation patrols, but generally violators don’t go around busses when police vehicles are present.
“Portage Township School busses are now equipped with cameras, which can capture images of the violations taking place. However, this data is stored by PTS and we needed to find a way to efficiently receive the complaints from bus drivers, review the violation, and issue citations / etc when applicable.
“Through a collaborative effort with PTS, our School Resource Officers, our Clerical Division, and our Station Officer, we came up with the following protocol: PTS Transportation will now notify our SROs and they will review the camera footage. If applicable our SROs will complete citations and our Station Officer will deliver the citations to the alleged violators.
“This process saves the city money (certified mail), allows for the alleged violator to personally speak with an Officer and ask any questions they may have, and allows our Officer to verify the citation and offender are correct. This process is captured by bodycam and is performed by the Station Officer. (It does not take an Officer away from their patrol duties as some commenters have stated).
“Unfortunately, we are in the process of investigating 30+ of these incidents, which have occurred just over the last few weeks. Our ultimate goal is to decrease the violations through this new process and hopefully get to a point where people are no longer putting children at risk, while they enter and depart busses.
We appreciate the communities support with keeping our children safe.
Chief Candiano”
(Photo source: Pixabay.com)