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Police State Cameras give new perspective School bus drivers hope that initiative will help improve discipline Sebreana Domingue sdomingue@theadvertiser.com April 13, 2004 LAFAYETTE — Bus drivers hope that giving Big Brother a seat on Lafayette Parish school buses will stop unruly behavior and other drivers who speed past stopped buses. To do that, the board will spend $112,000 to purchase 50 sophisticated video cameras for the next school year and 125 cameras at a cost of $280,000 the year after that. Bus drivers report that discipline is one of their main concerns, which is why they want these cameras, said Glenn J. Webb, president of the Lafayette Parish Association of Bus Drivers. Every year when school starts, the district receives about 1,200 calls a day from parents, said Daniel Michel, director of transportation. “Most of the calls are discipline-type calls, like a child hit another child. Also, there are accusations against drivers,” Michel said. The cameras would specifically address those times when a parent refuses to believe that their child is causing the disruptions. School districts nationwide began using video cameras in the mid-1990s in an effort to deter violence, according to the National Transportation Safety Agency. In Lafayette Parish, low-tech equipment is now on buses, but the tapes are often grainy and provide less-credible evidence when incidents occur, he said. The cameras will cut down on the amount of time transportation officials spend investigating these calls, Michel said. Parents will see and hear very clearly what their children are doing on public school buses equipped with video cameras, and drivers can also be monitored, he said. With the new technology, the video can be e-mailed to parents and will leave little room for interpretation. Bus drivers say that the cameras can protect them. “Discipline is a big concern,” Webb said. “When it is not taken care of, it escalates. If one kid misbehaves on the bus, then the rest of them will see that and do the same.” The first cameras will go on board-owned buses, Michel said. The Transportation Department is drafting regulations for installing the cameras on contract buses to ensure that the devices are returned if a driver leaves Lafayette Parish. Three cameras will be placed on each bus, with one near the driver, one in the rear and one on the outside of the bus near the retractable arm. “We have about 10 drivers a day who come through our offices, and the No. 1 safety issue is drive-bys,” Michel said, referring to drivers who ignore the stop arms on buses. “They have all reported numerous incidents this year and every year.” These cars will be filmed, and clear, color pictures of the car and its license plate will be turned over to police, he said. “There is nothing scarier than stopping at a stop and then seeing a car not stop,” Webb said. “The child is walking out into the street, and there is nothing you can do about it.” |