Clover Park school leaders say they hope Lakewood will step up and provide more flashing lights and police patrols if the city goes through with its plan to eliminate roving camera vans near schools.

City staff has proposed to replace the vans with fixed cameras at two school zones. It would mark a new approach for the city that introduced school-zone camera enforcement to the area eight years ago.

Tonight, the Lakewood City Council is scheduled to vote on an amended agreement with Redflex Traffic Systems to replace its school-zone camera vans with fixed cameras at two of the busiest schools.

One would be at Lochburn Middle School on Steilacoom Boulevard Southwest; the other at Park Lodge Elementary on Gravelly Lake Drive Southwest.

It�s a plan that city staff says will make things safer for the noncommissioned police officers who staff those vans.

Last week, Lakewood City Councilman Pad Finnigan informed the Clover Park School Board of the proposal.

The Clover Park School Board didn�t vote on the plan, but President Marty Schafer says school leaders hope Lakewood will continue to push for safety in school zones.

The board is concerned that two fixed cameras may not curb speeding through school zones the way the vans do.

�It just kind of forces compliance,� he said of the mobile patrols.

Schafer said the board understands if the city wants to keep employees safe and become more efficient. If it does eliminate the vans, Schafer says school leaders hope the city will install more flashing lights at schools to warn drivers to slow down.

Also, Clover Park officials say they hope for more officer patrols periodically, and that the city invests the money it generates in fines back into school-zone safety.

In 2001, Lakewood became the first city in Washington to focus on school- zone enforcement as part of a pilot program with the state Traffic Safety Commission. The city also installed fixed cameras at certain intersections.

Although other cities have installed their own cameras, Lakewood was one of the few cities that used a mobile camera approach, along with Seattle.

Police Chief Bret Farrar told the City Council this month that the vans have served their purpose, but it�s time for a new approach.

He said he�s mostly concerned that the vans require someone inside them, citing recent reports of drivers who disagreed with camera enforcement and approached the officers in the vehicle.

In April, a 51-year-old Redflex employee was shot and killed while staffing a van in Arizona. The incident created concern both in the U.S. and internationally in communities that use school vans.

Other critics argue that cameras, whether fixed or moving, serve as an easy way for local governments to ticket drivers and generate revenue.

In Lakewood, the penalty ranges from $101 to $250. The city collects about $1.2 million in fines annually, although it nets less than half of that.

Federal Way installed three school-zone cameras this year. Tacoma is doing the same.

The Lakewood City Council postponed voting on the amended agreement with Redflex earlier this month to take a closer look at the proposal.

Today, the Clover Park School Board is expected to send a representative to the council meeting to voice its concerns.

Instead of reducing school-zone enforcement, Clover Park leaders will ask city leaders to maintain it.

�We�ve had several people complain because they got an infraction. We have no sympathy for that,� Schafer said. �Our primary concern is for the safety of the kids.�

Brent Champaco: 253-597-8653
brent.champaco@thenewstribune.com