The issue of speed cameras in school zones originally surfaced at Tampa City Council in 2024 soon after a state law was passed allowing their use. Council approved a contract August of that year to install the cameras at 12 schools that had been identified in a study. For reasons unclear to the public, that vendor was unable to fulfill their obligation and the contract was “mutually terminated” in December of 2025. The new vendor, RedSpeed was approved on February 19, 2026.

This week’s agenda item identifies 18 schools from sample data collected by RedSpeed from 29 schools (31 school zones) for location of the cameras. Six of the schools on the new list were identified in the original study. The argument for changing the schools is in the amended ordinance

the 2022 Tampa School Transportation Safety Study (“the Study”), completed on behalf of the Hillsborough County Transportation Planning Organization and the City, provides an outline for encouraging walking, biking, and busing around schools;
and
WHEREAS, the evaluation criteria included the Study was the basis of the original site selection, but was not based on a speed study and was limited to proximity to busy corridors, number of bike and pedestrian collisions, vehicular crashes, density of students, and roadway network characteristics; and
WHEREAS, the School Zone Speed Study provides better analytical data for determining a heightened risk based specifically on speeding occurring within school zones;

Beyond concerns over privacy, the other issue raised by some(presumably people who think it’s ok to ignore speed limits the rest of the day) is as state law is written, tickets can be issued during the entire day, not just during the morning/afternoon “school zone” period where the limit drops. Hillsborough County started enforcing the entire school day last fall. Meaning, if you’re going 11 miles per hour above the speed limit any time of day — whether the limit is 15mph or 30mph — you get a ticket. The major offenders in the small study are mostly arterial roads – Himes Ave, S Manhattan, N. 22nd St, Tampa Palms Blvd. Himes Ave near St. Lawerence Catholic School was the biggest offender with a 2 day average of 3,021 cars exceeding the speed limit by at least 10 miles per hour. Compared to the 18th school on the list, Mabry Elementary, with a 2 day average of 200 cars exceeding the speed limit by 10+ mph. The numbers cited are from 6am to 6pm. RedSpeed does provide in the supporting document hour-by-hour break downs for each location.

Each ticket is $100. For every ticket paid, the city will receive $60 with 35% or $21 going to RedSpeed. The city will net $39 from each ticket. The remaining $40 will be used by the Department of Revenue General Fund ($20), Department of Revenue Law Enforcement Criminal Justice Standards and Training Trust Fund ($3), County School District ($12) and the school crossing guard recruitment or retention program ($5).

The RedSpeed study estimated over the 18 locations from 6am to 6pm more than15,000 vehicles exceeded the speed limit by more than 10mph each day.

Flock Concerns

In February a contract came before council to join Hillsborough County in installing Flock integrated cameras in school zones. That precipitated a memo from Tampa Police Chief Lee Bercaw stating “The cameras will not incorporate ALRPs and Tampa Police Department will not use RedSpeed cameras to be turned into ALRPs that push images to Flock. Red Speed will not give Flock access to cameras or provide them with any information.” (ALRP is an automatic license plate reader.) He went on to write it was “unfortunate there was confusion due to the proposal by RedSpeed was designed for Georgia and not Florida law.” In the same proposal RedSpeed stated:

RedSpeed offers unmatched Florida expertise and is proud to have offered significant support to the Legisla-ture [sic] as it considered additional protections for students over the past three years. As part of these efforts, RedSpeed has also worked closely with the Department of Transportation on the permitting rule making, and has the expertise to get your program up and running at the soonest possible moment.

Latest reporting is city’s are covering their Flock cameras with trash bags “in part because police there are unsure whether the cameras are still active and the city also doesn’t seem to know whether it is allowed to take the cameras down.”

RedSpeed scored third in the original Request for Proposal (RFP) council approved in August 2024. In November of 2024 they were selected by Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister to install cameras in the county. As Creative Loafing reported, RedSpeed donated $10,000 to Chronister’s PAC a few weeks after being awarded the county contract. The same contract the city signed a piggyback agreement to this year.

Full List of School Zones Proposed

• St. Lawrence Catholic School (K-8) N Himes Ave
• T.R. Robinson High School S Manhattan Ave
• Lanier Elementary School S West shore Blvd
• Young Middle Magnet School E Dr MLK Jr Blvd
• Turner/Bartels K-8 School / Middle School Imperial Oaks Blvd
• Benito Middle School Cross Creek Blvd
• Mendenhall Elementary School N Rome Ave
• Ferrell Girls Preparatory Academy Middle Magnet School N 22nd St
• Lomax Magnet Elementary School E Dr MLK Jr Blvd
• Liberty Middle School & Freedom High School Commercial Park Blvd
• MacFarlane Park Elementary Magnet School N Mac Dill Ave
• Alexander Elementary School N Lois Ave
• Lawton Chiles Elementary School Tampa Palms Blvd W
• Tampa Bay Boulevard Elementary School N Mac Dill Ave
• Lockhart Elementary Magnet School E Lake Ave
• Shaw Elementary School N 15th St
• Seminole Elementary School E Hanna Ave
• Mabry Elementary School S Lois Ave