Columbus City Council voted 5-1 to allow Securix to install surveillance cameras inside the city to identify and ticket drivers without insurance.
Ward 2 Councilman Joseph Mickens cast the lone no vote.
Securix presented to the council at a work session last Thursday, during which it asked permission to install cameras that would photograph the license plates of passing drivers. Those tag numbers would be compared with a database to see if the car was insured, and if not, a police officer would send the driver a citation.
Drivers who were cited can take their chances in court or pay a $300 fee and enter a diversion program that will require them to provide proof of insurance and to watch an educational video about the need for auto insurance. The city and the company will split the fee.
The program is at no cost to the city, and Securix would also reimburse city police officers who write the tickets to the tune of $25 an hour.
Company representatives estimated it would take 60 to 90 days to get the cameras, and after that it would take about three weeks to get the system up and running.
The program sparked fierce debate at times.
Ward 4 Councilman Pierre Beard said he objected to the surveillance aspect of the program.
“I look at things a little bit further, and I see we’re being tracked,” Beard said. “I don’t like being tracked. You’re putting however many cameras around, if you’ve got them on Highway 45 and Highway 82 then you know that Pierre Beard has traveled from 45 to 82.”
Ward 5 Councilman Stephen Jones said there are already cameras out there.
“There are tag-reading cameras already tracking you, and (the Mississippi Department of Transportation) has cameras already,” Jones said.
Attorney Robert Wilkinson, who is both the city attorney for Ocean Springs — a city that uses the technology — and the attorney for Securix, said that there was no tracking.
“If a car has insurance and that car is not subject to (an Amber Alert, Silver Alert or BOLO) then that picture of that tag is never shown to anyone,” Wilkinson said. “The only people who can look at those videos are your sworn police officers. … If there’s no offense, then that tag is not tracked.”
Mickens questioned whether the cameras were legal.
“We had cameras before,” Mickens said. “We noticed that they were being put in a position that affected a lot of minorities. It didn’t work out. What’s the difference? How does the law let you come back with the same system?”
Wilkinson said insurance cameras are legally allowed.
“In 2009 the legislature passed a bill that outlawed using an (automatic license plate reader) or any video recording device to capture anyone running a red light or speeding,” Wilkerson said. “That’s all it did. An attorney general’s opinion the next year indicated that that statute was limited to those circumstances. They have been used throughout the state since that time.”
Mickens said he still opposed the program.
“There is more than just bringing in money here,” Mickens said. “There’s the burden that we put on the citizens of this community, which is not a rich area. We have citizens living from day to day. We’re always talking about this is free, but ain’t nothing free. This is going to cost somebody.”
Mayor Keith Gaskin also spoke out against the program.
“Programs like this can have unintended consequences,” Gaskin said. “The dynamics of our city are different from Ocean Springs. I have talked to people who would love to have car insurance, but they have to decide between insurance or putting food on the table for their families.
“I’m not comfortable with putting something like this in our city right now,” he added. “I understand we’re looking for resources, but it could also have a damaging impact on a large population of our citizenry.”
Jones made a motion, seconded by Ward 3 Councilman Rusty Greene, to allow Securix to implement its program, with proceeds from the program going to the Columbus Police Department “for raises and equipment.”
Mickens made a substitute motion, seconded by Ward 6 Councilwoman Jacqueline DiCicco, to table the request. It failed 4-2, with Ward 1 Councilwoman Ethel Taylor Stewart, Greene, Beard and Jones voting no and Mickens and DiCicco in favor.
Jones’ original motion then passed 5-1, with Mickens voting no.
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