Tag: APP Traffic and Transit

HAINES CITY, Fla. — Schools in Haines City will soon have cameras installed to catch drivers speeding through school zones.

The ordinance was approved by the city commission earlier in June, making it the first city in Polk County to add these cameras to local schools.

Before becoming police chief in Haines City, Greg Goreck worked in the traffic unit for the Polk County Sheriff’s Office and says he’s seen what happens when people drive dangerously.

“One of our major complaints that came in was cars that were speeding through school zones,” Goreck said. “And it is a constant battle because we just do not have enough law enforcement resources to be in every school zone both times a day, every day of the week.”

He’s been the top cop in Haines City for about two years now, and that battle is still something he faces.

“On a monthly basis,” he said, “if not weekly basis, we’re getting complaints from educators, students and parents alike that are calling in reference to some type of traffic concerns within our school zones.”

In the time Spectrum Bay News 9 was outside Alta Vista Elementary School, two cars drove through the crosswalk as the news crew and the police chief were trying to cross, and one almost drove into Goreck until he stopped him after claiming the driver was on his phone.

“Those ones that are purposely speeding through school zones, they think it’s fair game if they don’t see a patrol car,” Goreck said.

That’s why he’s excited the city commission has approved installing speeding cameras in school zones.

The technology will be able to detect whether a person is going over the 20 mile an hour speed limit at the beginning or end of the school day.

It gives the city a bird’s-eye view at all times, according to Goreck.

“They’re not going to be an end all, cure all,” he said. “But it does give me a little bit of peace in the fact that, again, we’re going to be able to determine who these violators are and hold them accountable, because if an officer is not here, they’re not being held accountable for their egregious actions.”

Haines City is the first community in Polk County to approve these cameras with funding coming from the Florida legislature.

The city has about 12 schools, so Goreck hopes that at least some of them will have cameras installed by the start of the next school year.

“When we talk to the companies of what we can install, when we can install them, and we’ll do it on a worst-case basis first, and then move on to the ones that maybe have a lower recidivism rate when it comes to violators,” Goreck said.

Goreck says the cameras would become active 30 minutes before and after the school day.

The chief says he’s already started reaching out and meeting with companies to determine what kind of cameras the city will install around its schools.