Police Department leaders present annual report to City Commission
Between July 1, 2025 and June 30 of this year, 34,038 violations of the city’s School Speed Zone Safety Program were issued, John Lake manager of the Sarasota Police Department’s Real-Time Operations Center, told the City Commission this week.
Of those violations, he noted, 114 were contested, with 102 sustained as being valid; the other 12 were dismissed.
Altogether, Lake added, 6,596 of the violations resulted in Uniform Traffic Citations.
As of June 30, he continued, drivers had paid fines for 24,614 of the violations. A note on the slide that Lake presented the commissioners explained that the difference between the 34,038 figure and the 24,614 number “reflects citations that remain pending for payment, active contests/appeals, or statutory timelines that extend beyond the [state’s 2026] fiscal year.”
In response to a question that Commissioner Jen Ahearn-Koch posed, Lake explained, “If someone gets a ticket in June or May,” it is reflected as a violation. However, he added, the payment is not due until 30 days after the owner of the vehicle is made aware of the violation. “We’re always playing catch-up.”
“OK,” Ahearn-Koch replied.
Then, replying to a second question she asked, Lake explained that if a person does not pay within the 30-day period after receipt of the Notice of Violation, the Police Department undertakes a review to verify that the person has not moved; that the address where the notice was sent was correct. Then the Uniform Traffic Citation is sent to the address via first class mail, Lake continued.
Moreover, he noted, the state law requires that the fine rise from $100 to $208.
Of the resulting revenue from the 2026 state fiscal year violations, he told the commissioners, $1,037,868 went to the city, with $532,240 going to the state.
Further, he said, the Sarasota County Schools received $319,344; $133,060 went to the Crossing Guard Fund; $79,836 was paid to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement Training Division; and $558,852 went to RedSpeed, the company with which the city contracts for the cameras used in the program. The state breaks down the total payment for each citation by the percentage going to each of those above entities, he indicated.
The annual fiscal year report is a requirement of state law, Lake noted. In fact, he said, the law requires that he read all of the figures he had just presented to the commission.
When Vice Mayor Kathy Kelley Ohlrich asked Lake whether he had any data or other information “related to the safety aspect of this program,” he responded, “It is fairly new.”
Nonetheless, Lake reported, in 2024, before the program began in Sarasota, the Police Department asked representatives of RedSpeed to come to the city during the spring break period for the school district, to undertake a five-day analysis that covered all of the schools in the city limits.
When the program launched on Jan. 6, 2025, he continued, the Police Department staggered the start of use of the 22 cameras that record violations. By the end of that school year, Lake added, “There was about a 70% reduction [in violations] from the testing that was done” during the 2024 spring break period.
That 70% reduction continues, he told Ohlrich, “and I think it’s probably going to stay that way.”
Members of the public know “not to speed in a school zone,” Lake pointed out.
“Yes, I’m one of them,” Ohlrich replied, prompting laughter.
Misconceptions and protests of innocence
Commissioner Ahearn-Koch told Lake, “I have received some comments from citizens about receiving a citation [even though] the lights were not flashing.” Although they had not memorized the times the lights should be flashing, she added, those persons did not believe the speed was being enforced when the lights were not flashing.
“We have done a lot of public awareness on that,” Lake told her. State law allows the system to run while school is in session, he pointed out. Therefore, if anyone is driving 11 mph over the posted speed limit — or even faster than that — that is a violation, he added.
For example, Lake explained, if a driver is on Fruitville Road at 11 a.m., passing Cardinal Mooney High School, even though the lights are not flashing, “The person is going to get a ticket if they go 56 [mph] or higher,” since the speed limit in the area of the school is 45 mph.
“Oh, I thought it was 11 mph over the reduced speed limit,” Ahearn-Koch responded.
That is the case when the lights are flashing, Lake told her. The school zone speed for Cardinal Mooney High School is 20 mph, he said. “If the person goes 31 [mph] or higher when the light is flashing,” he added, “they will receive the $100 violation.
Referring to the Notices of Violation that drivers received when the lights were not flashing, Lake stressed, “The only reason they’re calling you is because they’re going 56 mph or higher …”
“And that’s not what I’ve been told by them,” Ahearn-Koch replied. “Of course,” she added and laughed.
“Well that’s what happens,” Lake said. “That’s the biggest misconception of the program,” he continued. Yet, he pointed out, “We’ve done a lot of social media [reports on it] and showing how [the program] works.”
Then Mayor Debbie Trice said, “I was wondering if the program is jeopardized at all by the governor’s edict [to] remove license plate readers [on state roads].”
“It is not,” Lake assured her. “It is not a license plate reader system at all.” The provisions of the applicable law are those in House Bill 657, he added. That law “specifically states that you cannot use [a school safety zone camera] as a license plate reader. It has never been used as that.”
(The state School Speed Zone Safety law went into effect on July 1, 2023, the Florida House of Representatives website notes.)
With no other questions or comments, Mayor Trice asked for a motion to accept the report. Ahearn-Koch made it, and Commissioner Kyle Battie seconded it.
The motion passed 5-0.
Capt. Tom Quinlan of the Sarasota Police Department, who leads the Police Support Services Division, appeared with Lake for the presentation.