My eyes used to be good, but I can't see
uh who signed in online. Do we have any
other council members that are uh
showing in that in the attendee list? Do
we have any other council members in the
attendee list? I can't see the screen
out there.
Okay, so we have three of us. We need a
I just want to make sure we have a
fourth.
Okay, we can begin recording.
All right, ladies and gentlemen, the
town is now the time is now 7:04 and
today's date is July 15th, 2026. And
welcome to the stop sign program uh
community forum.
We have members of the community uh
joining us today in the auditorium. And
then we also got uh members online and
we have our chief of police as well as a
representative from Avio, the uh company
that runs and administers the program
for us. And um we've gathered here today
because
uh before implementing this program, the
town did outreach, but we have heard
concerns. And the purpose of tonight's
forum is to explain why the town
implemented the program in the beginning
to answer questions about how it goes.
You can't hear me.
Okay.
All right. Let's straight out a
technical issue. Straight out a
technical issue while we
do that.
And also I want to make sure see if
folks at home can hear us.
Is there someone online who's able to
confirm if you can hear?
Okay,
>> I can hear you
>> in the auditorium though. You can't hear
me or is that better? That's better.
Okay. Uh the purpose of tonight's forum
is to explain why the town implemented
the stop sign safety program, to answer
questions about how it operates, to hear
your concerns as residents, and to
discuss whether changes should be
considered. Uh our responsibility as
your elected officials is not only to
implement programs that improve safety,
but also to evaluate them honestly. Uh
[clears throat] when residents raise
concerns, we have a responsibility to
listen, to review the facts, and to
determine whether adjustments make
sense. I ask that everyone uh be
respectful of everyone's views. Uh we
may have different perspectives tonight
on the program, but we share the same
objective, and that is making for sites
a safer place to live, to work, and to
raise our families.
Tonight's discussion is going to be
divided into two portions. First, we'll
give some information
and we'll try to provide
uh information that will may answer some
of the questions that you have or it may
help inform uh your question that may
change. We're also going to
at the uh after the presentation portion
and answer some questions. We're going
to open up the forum so anyone who's
here or who's online will have the
opportunity to ask a question or make a
statement so we can get your feedback.
Um, we wanted to do this outside of a
regular meeting since those tend to be
very long and about different topics
tonight. This next hour is simply about
uh stop sign and pedestrian safety in
our community, where we are now, and how
we move forward.
So, firstly, I'd like to address that um
the stop sign safety program was created
in response to concerns raised by
residents regarding drivers failing to
stop at a particular intersection in
town. The place we first heard uh
complaints about was Synen Moakin. And
those complaints were connected to the
fact that it's frequently used by
students walking to Forest Heights
Elementary. And it's also located in an
area where a lot of people walk to
Bellers Park. This is a place where
residents and families reg regularly
walk and gather. In November 2023,
the town conducted a pilot study at that
intersection. And the results showed a
significant number of stop sign
violations happening over a 30-day
period.
To determine whether this was an
isolated concern or if it was happening
at other places in the community, the
town conducted a second pilot study in
2025 at 11 intersections throughout
forest heights. The research uh the
results from that showed an average of
approximately 3,800 stop sign violations
per day across those locations.
Uh the intended goal of this program has
always been to improve compliance with
stop signs, reduce dangerous driving
behavior, and to make our streets safer
for pedestrians, children, and all
residents really, and to prevent
accidents from happening.
Now, before the citations began, the
town took several steps to notify
residents about the program and its
implementation. Information was shared
through two town newsletters, press
releases, a newspaper notice, the town's
communication channels, and there was a
warning period that began part prior to
enforcement.
Even with those efforts, we continued to
hear concerns from residents about how
the program works, whether it's being
administered fairly, and whether it is
achieving its intended purpose. So
rather than dismiss those concerns, we
believe that it's important to create an
opportunity for direct conversation with
you, the residents. Tonight's an
opportunity for us to answer questions
and to discuss the program more.
So, at this time, I'm going to turn it
over to our chief of police, Chief
Daniel Ruffin, to answer some basic
questions about what constitutes a stop,
what we've observed as being the correct
stop, and what uh constitutes a
violation.
All right, how you guys doing tonight?
So, what constitute a correct stop is
when you stop before the actual line.
Um, once you go over the line, that's
when the violation is sent to us. So, I
can share my screen real quick and I
want to show you guys just a couple
examples.
So what we're looking for when we um are
doing the violation is as we go through
every single time that we are approving
a violation, we have to look to make
sure one they're going over the stop
line and there's not stopping prior to
the stop line. So if you look at this
video and these are just different
angles. If you go over the line, that is
when the citation is issued. Um, there
are times when you guys are getting the
citation and it's the picture. If you go
on to less drive safer and actually
watch the video, if it goes over that
line before you come to a complete stop,
that's when the violation is sent to us.
every single violation that we are I
guess you would say approving, they are
going over the stop line or we are
literally watching every single
violation to make sure that the person
that is doing it isn't stopping at the
line or hesitating before we approve any
violation. And these are just a couple
different angles of different violations
that have been approved and why they are
approved. Even though you see the brake
light, they're going through the stop
sign.
>> Just just a moment. I know that we have
>> these are the ones that
>> Chief, just just one moment. I just want
to set ground rules. I know that we may
not agree on everything, but we are
going to have a portion when members of
the public can speak and you can share
your opinion. I'm not going to stop you
and I'm not going to refute what you
say. So, if we can accept the ground
rules, we'll get through tonight and
we'll let people share how they feel,
whether in support or if they feel
differently.
>> All right. So, back to what I was
saying. So, for example, the the reason
why you get the citation is because
you're going over the stop line. It's
not if you
come up to the stop line and stop. The
only way that it is triggering to for us
to get the violation is once you go over
that stop line, it triggers for us to
come through. There are multiple
different factors that are in place
prior to it getting to us. Once it gets
to us, every single citation is being
reviewed prior to it going out to you
guys to get the citation. Um, the last
couple ones, I know the biggest
intersection is this one that everybody
has talked about, but when we have
people that are out, especially going
through the crosswalk, it's kind of hard
for us to um go through there. So,
that's this is Comanche Livingston.
So that is how the citations are
working. Now a complete stop is when you
come to that stop line. You're
completely stopping at the stop line.
Your wheels have to stop prior to the
stop line. Once they stop and then you
proceed out, it will not get you a
violation.
» Okay, let's move to another question.
There's a the summary of a lot of items
that I know um residents have raised
concerns about. So, we're going to go
through and try to address most of
those. Um one question we've heard is
how do we know about the camera
calibration and the accuracy of the
cameras? And this is going to go to u
who do we have online from AIO tonight?
>> Hi. Uh my name is Ricky Sammon. am the
community and customer success lead and
I've got uh my colleague Wade Borman uh
on the on the call as well. Um he is our
program manager.
>> Okay. So we've got uh Mr. Borman and Mr.
Seaman. One of the questions we've had
from residents is um why does it appear
in a video that the vehicle is going
faster than maybe a resident feels like
they're actually moving in their their
car? All right. And how do you calibrate
the cameras and know that they're
accurately uh depicting if a vehicle
stops or is how it's moving through the
stop sign?
» Yeah, thank thanks thanks for that
question. Um I'm going to see if my my
colleague Wade might be able to take
this one. Um Wade, if you're on. I know
Wade was having some connectivity
issues.
» Y'all hear me? Okay.
>> Yes.
So we uh we have technicians out in the
field and we have software engineers
starting on the back end. So
everything's okay and calibrate it.
Basically
the video
judge
video to the video it isn't sped up or
manipulated if it were to be. We're
still looking for a complete stop in the
right area before the stop line.
>> Does that make sense?
>> Mr. Borman, one moment. We had uh some
individuals walk in just as you started
your answer. So, give me just one
minute. Once they get seated, I'm going
to have you repeat that so everyone gets
a chance to hear.
Okay, if you could give us that answer
again on the calibration and how that
works.
Wait, you may
>> you muted if you're
» Mr. Borman, can can you hear me? You can
go ahead and restate the answer.
Okay. I'm not able to hear your audio at
this time. Mr. Seaman, if you have the
answer, you can give it now. If not, I'm
going to go to another question and we
may come back to this one.
>> Yeah. So we have technicians that are
out there every day um that are checking
for the the actual hardware calibration.
Um so that's the kind of the the first
aspect of it. The second aspect of it is
uh every single violation that comes in
um our internal team uh they are
reviewing um for any kind of calibration
errors or issues or anything per
violation. Um so as far as calibration
goes uh it's twice daily for hardware.
Um and then it is upon uh each violation
um calibration check.
» Okay. Another question we've heard is
there was a warning period and during
that period only warnings were supposed
to be mailed out. Uh how many warnings
were mailed out during the warning
period?
Let me see if this is also maybe an
answer for my colleague Mr. Borman. I
know he's having some connectivity
issues as well.
Give me one second. I may have the
answer for you. I know Wade's trying to
connect again.
Apologies for the technical difficulties
here, everyone.
Okay. Um, if if we're able to uh punt
this question, um, uh, my colleague's
going to be, uh, trying to reconnect and
see if we can get the answer. Um,
apologies for that.
Yeah, apologies for that. Um, if we can jump to the next question. Uh,
my colleague is going to going to pull
up that information. Um, again, sorry,
he's having some connectivity issues. Uh
on that
» the next question um is could you
explain the appeals process
and Chief Ruffin you may have a better
answer for this. I'm going to go to you
on this one.
>> All right. If you want to appeal your
ticket, um especially a stop sign camera
ticket, there are a couple ways that you
could do it. Um one, if you go online
and you are looking at it and you want
to appeal it, you can bring it to us. We
can look at it. However, the best way to
appeal it is you everybody will get a
court date. You take it to court and you
the representative for AIO will be there
and the judge will see the ticket and
that is your way to say whether the
judge is there. That's not us. That's
not AIO making the decision. This is
from the judge's point of view. If you
have committed that violation, every
single person has the right to go before
the judge and appeal every single
citation that they are given. Um if they
have a if you want a court date and you
want to go before the judge, you can
appeal your um stop sign camera ticket.
Yes, sir.
I'm going to have a worship. Who's this?
Council member uh I'm sorry, Kennedy. Is
that you, sir?
>> Yeah.
>> Go ahead.
» Because
so only
I guess we've already gone to court to
contest some of these people.
>> Yes, a lot of people have gone to court
to contest it.
» It depends on the judge. I can't say
whether the judge will court call.
Sometimes it's the violation or no court
call. Sometimes it is. That's up to that
system in order to make that um final
decision.
We have an unbudsment process where you
can send it to the embuzzment officer
and the embuzzment officer will get back
in contact with you and then they will
review your complaint and your situation
and then they will let you know whether
it's going to be cleared or if they're
going to say no and then send you to
court.
When you call here, we will direct you
to the embuzzment officer.
No. So, the the
Well, hold on. Just the reason why I did
not answer it that way is because I want
to make sure it's very clear. The AIO is
a it's not just for forest heights. So
every embuzzment for every municipality
is different. So if we put the
embuzzment information on that ticket,
it wouldn't be for every jurisdiction.
So that's why if you have a situation
for the town of Forest Heights, we will
direct you to the person that it needs
to go to.
So when you request a court date, you
have the option um to either request a
court date or if you call and ask us
questions about it, then that's when we
would direct you to the unbudsman
officer.
It's the request for the court dates on
the ticket, but internally you can go to
us for the unbudsment.
When you're telling something that oh
it's known, but how is it known? It's
not on the ticket.
>> Well, we can we can see if that's
something we can add, but as of right
now, the way it states, if you would
like to do it internally, we would go
through our unbudsman officer.
Well, that's why we have the forum now,
so we can make it clear for everybody.
The forum where we're in now. Yes. Nope.
The forum. So that's why we're here now
so that we can answer all these
questions and make sure it's clear to
the public because we do want to make
sure that the information is getting out
to everybody. And we want to make this
process as smooth as possible. I know
sometimes it may be an inconvenience,
but we're trying every way possible to
rectify before you even have to go to
court. And we will show you how to pull
up your violation. We will show you how
to look at it. We will show you what to
do. But if you ultimately want to take
it to court, every single person has the
right to take it to court. Yes, sir.
» We approve it. It is dispersed by AIO.
It's mailing it to you. Yes. We don't
mail it out.
need to go to court.
>> Absolutely. No, no, no, no, ma'am.
You know, we will we will come through
if there is an immediate emergency, we
will actually pick up the phone, which
we have done, and say, "Hey, let's go to
let's drive safer together. we can watch
the video. We will show you how to pull
it up so that you can watch it along
with us so we can show you how to do it.
There have been many of people that have
come down to the station and we will
pull it up for you so that you can see
it and then make your own judgment call
at that moment as well. If you haven't
received the call back from the
unbudsman officer in a timely manner
for those who are at home, I don't know
if they can hear us since we're doing a
virtual meeting. If you have a question,
would you mind coming back to the uh
podium to ask so that way someone has
the same question, they can hear the
answer.
Or do we have a mic we can take to
someone? I'm trying to see if we can
make it easy.
» Yes, ma'am.
still speaking to you.
>> No problem. Yeah. Okay. Okay.
>> All right. My question is, you showed us
the videos of people pulling up to the line. Yes, ma'am.
>> The white line. So, you're telling me I
shouldn't cross the white line
>> or, you know, you grow up growing up
driving up to that white line?
>> No. That California stop, that
California road, we can't do it here in
Maryland. So what happens is what I what
I the way that it works you have to your
wheels have to stop prior to the white
line. Now the question would be well I
can't see right you have to that's where
the merging comes in because what we
don't want to happen most of the stop
signs that we have are right before a
crosswalk. So when you stop at that
white line and your wheels come to a
complete stop, meaning your car is
driving and you feel that little shift
back, then you're you have stopped. Once
you stop, then you can merge out into
traffic. But if your wheels are still
moving, it will trigger for the camera
to give you a citation because you have
entered into that box and your wheels
are still moving.
Okay. In other words, I need to stop
before the white line.
>> Yes, ma'am.
>> Not at the white line.
>> Not on the white line. Before the white
line.
>> Before the white line.
>> And if you are in behind someone that
has already stopped, you still have to
stop again
>> at the white line.
So, let's say you're
in line and there's two cars. If that
car in front of you stopped at the white
line and you're behind them and you
stop, just because you stopped doesn't
mean you can run. You have to come to
that stop sign again, stop, and then
merge into traffic.
>> Thank you. And to keep it fair and
efficient, since we have the next
meeting at 8 and to give each person an
equal opportunity, I'll just limit the
comments to two minutes. Thank you. Um,
first I'm not complaining about the stop
signs cuz people need to stop. Totally
understand. I stopped at every stop sign
now. Doesn't matter if it's in Forest
Heights or not, if it has a camera or
not. My only issue is you can barely see
the lines.
A lot of the lines need to be painted.
You can't see them at night. Sometimes
you can't
>> Yes, ma'am. And they have the
>> No, let's let this all continue. You
have anything else?
Yeah, that was basic. That was my second
one about the lines. You know, I know
that you guys were going through and
painting some of them, but not all of
them are painted. And before before you
rolled this out, I feel like you should
have painted made sure that the lines
were painted,
>> right? And I understand you gave a
warning period, but the the lines wasn't
painted after the warning period. And
some of um some of the lines you
couldn't even see. like that one on
Quaid, you couldn't see the line. It was
faded. And I understand that I had to
stop and my nose couldn't be touching
the line and all of that. I found that
out later,
>> but still the line wasn't there. The
line wasn't it was merged with the
street, so I didn't feel like that was
fair, you know.
>> Yes, ma'am. No, I I I understand. Yes,
ma'am.
» All right. I see I have someone online
as the next person's coming up inside.
you can come up. I'm going to take
someone off uh line and someone can tell
me the names. I can't see these names on
the screen tonight, but I'll
» Jonas Mitchell. Jonas Mitchell.
>> I'm going to go to Mr. Jonas Mitchell.
>> Hey guys, can you hear me?
>> Yes, we can.
>> Hey, so I actually have two Well, I have
one question and then one more of a
statement. The first question, when uh
deciding to implement this program, I
know there were 3,800 violations of like
running the stop signs. Were there any
incidents of of anything, you know,
accidents, people getting hit, those
types of things?
We've had multiple um I would say within
the last 6 months, we've had two
pedestrians that have been struck um and
hit at the crosswalks.
Okay. Because I hadn't heard of those.
Okay. And then my second uh more of a
statement. So you mentioned uh so I'm
assuming that you've heard it already
that um as you're going to stop at the
stop sign um that people can't see. And
so I think it's almost unfair
for anyone who's going to be driving
through our neighborhood uh and there us
as residents as well on the very first
few instances because you say that it's
best for you to stop at the line which
is perfectly fine. Once you tell people
that I think everyone would do it I
don't think there there's going to be
any issues there. The problem is that
when you do go to stop at I know I live
on Ottawa so going from Ottawa and
turning towards Livingston and then
stopping at Living uh Livingston or
Comanche sorry so and then stop on
Comanche going onto Livingston
on both of those views you can't see the
road right like you can't see what's
coming through so I know most of the
time on Comanche there's like a van or
truck that's always there so it's really
hard to see the traffic that's coming
through and then when you stop right
before you turn on Livingston, there's a
tree that's there. So, you won't be able
to see that either. So, for the vast
majority of people who are coming
through our neighborhood on the very
first time, if they don't know anything
about stopping specifically at that
line, they'll stop, but still get cited,
which I know I was, and still get cited
even though they stopped. And I had that
multiple times happened to me until
eventually we figured out, oh, it must
be the line. So, I don't know if there's
a sign or something that we can put
there specifically that says stop here,
not just a stop sign. Everyone knows
there's a stop sign and they're going to
stop. But if you want people to
specifically stop at the line,
>> I think there should be an extra Sorry.
There should be an extra sign that says
stop here at the line.
>> Thank you, sir.
>> Yep.
>> Miss Bracie,
» hi. Um I I had the same concern about
Comanche and Livingston and I noticed uh
after 6 months just ahead of this
meeting that uh Bush had been trimmed.
Um but it's still
doesn't take away from the fact that we
still have to stop twice. First for the
pose for the camera and second to see
what's coming in either direction
because you still cannot see everything
coming in either direction on Comanche
Drive in Livingston. My other concern is
that I just recently got uh
administrative fees for uh tickets from
a while back. Tickets that I never
received. I never received any uh uh
late notices or anything. And I find it
highly unlikely that I received all of
my mail except Forest Heights uh uh stop
camera tickets. So um those are my Oh,
and also the ombbudsman. I I went to the
office the other day to complain and she
gave me the she told me to complain to
the on busman and gave me an email
address. I did email today and it came
back saying no such address. So and plus
she was not very happy that I even asked
the question and that's my concern.
>> Okay, I'll answer the two of them for
you. The one for Comanche and
Livingston. Why do you have to stop
twice? If you look at the intersection
at Comanche and Livingston, if you don't
stop prior to merging out into traffic,
you're literally stopping in the
crosswalk. So, if someone is walking on
that crosswalk, you're going to be in
the crosswalk as somebody is walking um
down Livingston Road. So, we do want you
to stop at the stop sign. If you stop
once and merge into traffic, you will
not get a violation. It is when you run
over the stop line and go into the
crosswalk to emerge into traffic. That
is when the um citation is issued. The
reason why we could not um trim the tree
fast enough because there are policies
and procedures that we have to follow as
a government before we can trim a tree
on someone's private property. So, we
went through those proper steps. We did
everything we were supposed to do.
However, even if the tree is there, you
still have to stop at the stop line and
you could merge into traffic and it will
not give you a violation. As far as the
unbudsment person or the fees, that's
why we have the unbudsment person
because those fees can be taken back if
we see that we have made a mistake.
That's what we're here for. Not saying
that everything's perfect. Maybe the
mail got lost. Something happened.
That's why that is in place to make sure
you don't assess fees that's not
warranted for your violation. So if you
have things like that and it's not
working, I'll tell you now, you can
email me and I'll make sure it gets
there. But I just want to make sure that
you understand if you have a fee and you
say, "Hey, we have some late fees and I
didn't get it." We can look and see,
hey, when it was mailed out, when it was
issued, any of those things, and make
sure that every single citation is valid
and we're not overcharging somebody. Our
goal of the program is not to gain
money. It is to reduce the amount of
people that are driving through the stop
signs because we have walkers. We
usually have kids going to school. We
have people in the neighborhood that
like to walk and we see people that just
run stop signs and it is dangerous
because we do not want anybody to get
hit. That's the goal of it.
>> Thank you, Chief.
And I I do have just one update as my my
colleagues coming back online now. For
the warning letters question, uh we sent
out 1,910
warning letters um over a 30-day period.
» How many violations did you
>> have during that period?
>> Did we first get ju just a moment, Mr.
uh Seaman? How many is that the number
of violations there were that month?
>> That's correct.
Just to repeat the question or the
statement, he was answering our earlier
question about how many warning
violations were sent out during the
warning period. That was over a 30-day
period.
» That's correct.
» How many tickets are have been issued
roughly on average in the 30 days
periods following the warning period?
Um, let me see. I've actually I have a
presentation here to kind of show the
progress of the uh of the the actual
program itself.
Um, let's see.
Sorry, I'm going to have to dig. Uh,
give me just one second. And then the
question was how many have been issued
in total since the the beginning?
>> Question was on average how many did you
issue over a 30-day period? Is it a
thousand or is it higher than that?
Sorry, I've got the the presentation
here that I was going to show you all.
See if I can find the information.
Um let's sorry uh per day
uh around that that's going to be around
10,000.
» That's on average.
>> That's per month. Correct.
» Okay. So, if you're going to bring
presentation up and so some show some of
the other data at this time.
>> I can definitely do that. Yes.
>> And I didn't forget. I know we got Miss
Mau who has a question,
a statement.
And I also know there's another hand
online.
Is everyone able to see my screen?
I'm sorry. Is everyone able to hear me
as well?
>> Yes, we can see it.
>> Okay. Excellent. Um, sorry, there may be
some connectivity issues there. Um,
excellent. Okay. Um, well, thank you
everyone uh again for for joining today.
So, like I said, I'm Ricky Seaman. I'm
the uh the new lead for community and
customer success. Um and I wanted to
talk to you guys uh all about the the
program and kind of the the impact that
the program has uh been having so far in
forest heights. So um since the
implementation um of this program um
we've seen an observed violations
decline across all deployments uh about
around 55%. Um that is a change in
behavior um which is exactly uh like the
chief said uh exactly kind of what we're
looking for um to to make safer streets
really. We're looking for that
behavioral change.
Um so uh just a quick kind of uh couple
updates with with us uh let's drive
safer by AIO. Um uh you know we we have
uh passed the HB364 which is a traffic
safety. Um you know that's been
instrumental in in passing uh these stop sign monitoring legislation. Prince
George's County, Tacoma Park, Baltimore,
kind of all over. Um and really 20 25
2025 to 2026 we've seen kind of this
national movement of traffic and road
safety not just in Maryland. Um, but we
are also operating in Colorado, uh,
Virginia, um, looking at other states
right now, North Carolina, wrote, uh,
Delaware as well. Um, and excuse
[clears throat] me, uh, since 2025, um,
we've had, um, an increase in about 70
plus cameras or so. Um, and that also
includes a 65% reduction, um, in uh, in
unsafe stop sign running. That's it's a
change in behavior. again
um what kind of makes us different uh as a company uh working working with
>> Mr. Mr. Let me let's do this. We have
limited time tonight, so let's fast
forward to the data that specifically
talks about the foresights program.
>> Perfect. That sounds great. Yeah, I no
problem at all. Um, so uh just wanted to
show you this here. These are the
violations that are down 52% since uh
the program has begun. You can see here
on the left hand side uh 17,100 average
uh weekly violations. Um that was in
early January. uh this program has
decreased uh the number of violations by
52% like I had mentioned before
um you'll notice that there are high,
medium and low. These high, medium, low
in red, orange and blue uh these signify
uh the egregious uh uh rather the
egregiousness of the stop or lack
thereof itself. Um so you can think of
this as kind of speed, right? So the red
are going to be those violations that
are generally about around around 12 10
miles an hour and up. Medium on average
is going to be around let's say five to
5 to 10 miles an hour. Uh and then these
blue ones are going to be kind of those
lowle um kind of running through stop
signs kind rules like the chief
mentioned. Um and so you you'll see
there's been a significant decrease as
well uh in these high egregious
violations not just in the program
overall changing that behavior.
All sites, there are 11 sites uh in
Forest Heights. Um we have seen all
sites uh go down sharply in the behavior
um and the number of violations. Otto
Street uh 67, Senica Drive 66, uh Kada
Street 65, Comanche 65, Senica 64, and
Otto Street Northwest at 64%. Again,
it's a decrease in the number of
violations significantly since the
program started.
Um, this has continued uh so again 55 55
excuse me 57% all the way down to uh
Woodland Drive at 24%.
One thing to call out is that violations
tend to ramp up through through the
week. Um kind kind of makes sense. You
know it's a Friday. Uh it's the highest
day people are trying to get back home
uh you know after after a work week. Um
so these are just some of those stats
there that I wanted to pull for you all.
Um, weekdays peak. This is looking at
kind of the the time for when we see the
violations.
Excuse me. Uh, weekdays tend to peak
around 4 p.m. which kind of makes sense.
You know, it's again the end end of that
workday rush hour. Uh, people are trying
to make it home. Uh, and then weekends
tend to peak around 3 p.m. for for the
violations.
Um, so one thing I want to call out is
who is actually getting cited for these.
Um, so 98% of site citations go to
drivers from outside Forest Heights. Um,
just want to repeat that again. 98% of
the citations that are issued in Forest
Heights are not Forest Heights
residents. Um, they are they are
non-residents. Actually, Forest Heights
residents are receiving only 2.2% of the
citations that are being issued um in
the municipality. That's around uh 1,00
1,300 1,290 or so citations um that are
forest heist residents compared to
57,983
citations non-residents.
Um, so if we're looking at the most
sighted drivers, uh, from nearby cities,
um, this is just a graph here to kind of
show you that, uh, Oxen Hill, Washington
DC, for Washington. Um, a lot of cut
through, uh, a lot of people driving
through, um, and making up that, uh,
that high, you know, majority of
citations for forest sites. We can see
forest sites down here compared to some
of the rest of the, uh, the cited
drivers at 2.2%.
I'll leave this up here just for a
second so you can see.
Um so the resident share has held
between around five uh 0 to 5% across
the program. Um that's again kind of the the number of residents for four
sites that are actually uh receiving the violations.
And it's the uh it's consistently below
10% uh at every single site. That's at
all all 11 locations where there are
cameras
uh for forest residents.
Again, below 10% for every every site.
And this is just the resident uh uh
share continued.
Now, uh one thing I want to call out is
that most tickets are coming from really
a small number of repeat offenders. Um,
so if you're looking at this here,
you'll see the number of of residents,
you'll see the number of of
non-residents. Uh, 975
uh resident repeat offender tickets. Um,
and then uh 17,741
non-resident repeat uh tickets.
So, the top takeaway here really is that
plates uh with more than three tickets
are a small share of drivers uh but but
drive a disproportionate share of the
citations.
Um and again like I said like I said
most citations kind of track back to
that small group of repeat offenders. Um
you can see this broken down here uh
from the number of plates um the
citations issued as well as waved. Um
again that's kind of that that same idea
that it's it's really just a large
percentage is those repeat offenders.
Um, one thing I want to call is that we
wave repeat uh repeat tickets rather
than pile them on. That's one thing that
we do not do. We do not pile those on.
Um, you know, you'll get a second
violation within within those 13 days of a citation. Um, excuse me. We we we
wave the repeat tickets rather than pile
them on. a second violation within 14
days of a citation or a third uh within
third three days um isn't cited giving
drivers that that really chance to kind
of change their behavior which again is
really the the goal of this program.
>> Mr. Seaman, repeat that definition of
what's waved and just say state kind of
slowly.
>> Yeah, sorry. Yeah. Um so we we we don't
pile on the these these citations. So if
you get her citation, you won't get
another citation for another 14 days.
You know, our goal, like the chief said,
is not, you know, it's not moneyating.
It's really to to make sure that
>> you'll have a chance to to come back and
say that.
>> Continue, Mr. Seaman.
>> Okay. Um, so yeah, so wanted to to call
that out. So we don't we don't pile them
on. If you get a citation, you won't
receive another one for for 14 days. Um,
that that's kind of the goal to change
those that behavior there.
Um, and then lastly, just want to call
out that, you know, we we do community
engagement. We do have tech support.
Anyone have has any questions. Uh, we do
have support in English and Spanish. Um,
you can call us at any point in time for
our our customer support. You can email
us at at any time. Um, and we can help
you with any questions, walk you through
payments. If you have questions about
court, scheduling, contestation,
whatever it is, um, you can go ahead and give us a call. We're here to really
try to try to make this a a smooth and seamless process. So,
Okay,
on that last point, I need some
clarification. You don't get another
citation within 14 days if it's at the
same intersection or just within the
system in four sites.
>> Uh that that should be within the the entire system within Forest Heights.
Let me let me confirm with that with my colleague really quick though. Uh
Wade, if if you had any second uh
>> you guys hear me?
>> Yeah, I know you're having some trouble.
There you go.
>> Can you hear me? Okay. Hi everyone. Um,
so for the repeat offender, I do want to
correct it's
10 days and then 3 days after that and
it is for the whole Forest Heist system.
So if you've gotten a violation in
Forest Heights, then that begins.
Did that answer the question?
>> I don't understand the second half. You
said 10 days and then you said then 3
days after that,
>> right? So then it goes we we still give
grace for every 3 days in the system as
well after that initial 10day.
» It sounds like we'll need that uh policy
somewhere we can read and review. And it
doesn't make sense on the face of it uh
to most of us in the room.
>> Okay.
>> But let's get some more information on
that to understand exactly how that
works.
>> Sounds good.
>> All right. I'm going to open it back to
uh questions. We have Miss Mau before we
went to the presentation.
Um,
did I say the right name?
All right, I'll turn on my timer. Hi
everyone. Good evening. My name is Tracy
Mau. I live here in Forest Heights and I
serve on the beautifification committee.
I share the town's goals of safer
streets, which is exactly why I'm asking
us to reconsider this program. Let's
start with the number that the town gave
us. 976 violations on one day at
Livingston and Route 10. That's a
thousand drivers who are failing. These
are not bad people. And I would like to
also contest the data that they're
presenting as those people who are
coming here are not residents are people
who are delivering our groceries, who
are delivering our medicine, who are
providing us needed services. So I don't
want to punish them either. These are
the fact that there's so many violations
means that this is an engineering
problem, not a problem with the drivers.
and also who pays. A flat fine is
regressive by design. $40 is nothing to
some households and a missed bill to
others, cascading into late fees, court
costs, lost licenses for the neighbors
who have the least cushion. That's not
safety. That's tax for being poor. And
where does the money go? Obio. They only
profit if the violations continue. So
what is their point of calibrating
correctly or doing anything else to
actually bring these violations down? I
want to know what the I want the
contract published so we can see how the
revenue is split and where this where
our share is being spent. Privacy. These
pylons record everyone who passes. The
company's data centers are self-reported
and unodudited and the footage is owned
by the town. So residents deserve to
know how long it's kept and who can
access access it. I would also like to
bring up another point. Let's not jump
on this bandwagon just as the rest of
the country is jumping off communities
across the United States. Red, blue,
big, and small are cancelling these
surveillance contacts. Dozens of
localities have pulled their cameras
over exactly these concerns. Data shared
without consent. Footage sent to who
knows where. Systems sent and grow into
something that residents never agree to.
I'd like clarifications on which signs
are marked. Transparency where the data
is being stored, publish the contract,
and consider sliding scales or other
ways for people to pay these fines.
Thank you.
>> Thank you, Miss Mo.
Could I get someone to let me know the
next name that's online? I see
Mr. Hammet. Uh, I will begin your two
minutes. Thank you. You can unmute.
>> Yes, sir. Good evening. Um, Marcus Ham,
Senica Drive. I'd like to know to her
point, how much revenue has been
generated thus far from these tickets,
and how is the town planning on spending
that revenue?
» I'll let uh Mr. Seaman or Mr. Borman
answer in just a moment, but first I'll
state that yes, the program does
generate revenue. Um, however, the town
does not budget for or rely on this
revenue. And
the way that the state law works is that
it's designed to be used for pedestrian
safety improvements. So, part of
tonight's meeting and hopefully the
continuing discussion around this is
what are the needs that we have that can
be addressed uh by the funds that are
raised. And I've also heard uh in direct
conversation with some individuals that
they think it's going to go like to to
the police department, but this is
specifically about on the ground like
walking, crosswalks, signage, lighting.
Uh we're trying to see if it can be used
for sidewalks or curbway improvements,
things that residents have been asking
for for a long time and that contribute
directly to making the streets safer. Uh
now I'll go to Mr. Seaman or Borman who
has to the to answer on the amount of
revenue that's been generated so far
with the program.
>> Hi everybody. Um so the revenue number
for the town has brought in $433,426
and in the legislation it has to be put
into public safety. So it's written into
the legislation that all funds collected
have to go back to public safety. So,
like uh Mr. Jackson was saying,
sidewalks,
crosswalks, painting, speed bumps,
things like that.
» Okay, next question. Um, sir, you'll
have two minutes.
>> I just have two quick statements. Uh,
one, how much money was made by Avio in
the past however months it's been
running
from our from our town? The violations
in our town,
>> Avio has made $44,54
>> as pure profit. Correct. They just set
up the systems and let them run.
>> Uh, we have a lot of hardware to
maintain and software to maintain.
>> And how often do you send your people
out to recalibrate? You said every day.
We have software engineers checking
daily and then hardware. But
>> you have people on the ground here
actually physically checking the cameras
that they're not moved that they're
still marked because there's two cameras
in our neighborhood that are not clearly
marked right now.
>> What do you mean by marked? I'm sorry.
>> As in there's a camera here. Please
stop. As in it's not properly marked.
And I the intersection I'm referring to
is 210 in Livingston.
>> Okay.
>> Right where Henry's food is. Soul Food.
It is impossible to legally go north on
210 now because of the 3-se secondond
arrow and the stop sign and people line
up there. And y'all don't know this
because y'all are a big company and
y'all actually aren't here. But us who
live here, 210 is impassible and has
been made more dangerous because of the
stop sign camera. If that first person
is turning left, that second person
needs to follow them in order to catch
that light. If not, there's two
different types of traffic coming
towards them when they are trying to
turn left into it. And if you stopped at
that light, other cars behind you just
go around you and run the light anyways
and go in front of you. So you've
actually made the intersection more
dangerous. Thank you.
» So we're we're happy to replace the sign
if the sign's missing. As far as the
traffic engineering of an intersection,
I would have to defer to a traffic
engineer.
» Let's go to the next uh hand that's
raised online.
Uh, Miss Caress Mitchell.
» Hi, I'm Long.
» We heard you for a moment now. I I can't
hear. I don't know if you went on mute.
I
>> I heard the council member. I didn't
know if I needed to stop or not.
>> Yes, you Yes, you can begin.
>> Okay. Um my I'm a resident of Livingston
on Ottawa Street for 15 years and I just
wanted to say my largest concern is that
I've seen people speed when we had speed
bumps on speed humps and no speed humps
on Ottawa Street and nothing has changed
in the past 15 years over the repeat
offenders. But it feels like the
residents who are trying to stop are
being penalized if we have two stop
signs on either side of our street to
even go to work each day. My family has
received 50 tickets at 5903 Ottawa
Street since February. So, I would love
to refute what they are saying about the
violations because I'm considering
moving out of the neighborhood if I have
to spend $2,000 a year on parking
tickets because my income will never
reflect that if we keep having
violations. And some of them are school
buses. So, I would love to know if PG
County is paying for whether school
buses are running stop signs or not as
well because it feels like we are being
penalized as residents more than anyone
else. And that's just going to keep
gatekeeping our community in a row, not
allowing revenue to come into Forest
Heights.
» Let's go to the Is there anyone else
inside the room who would like to ask a
question? Let's go to the next
Uh, I see there's someone whose name is
Samsung online. I I don't know who whose
name it is, but you can come offline and
>> Hi, that's me. Can you hear me?
>> Yes, we can.
>> I'm Carolanne Prather. I live on Quaid
Street
>> right at the stop sign where the one
camera is. Um,
but my issue that I'm going to speak of
is my husband had an idea where you're
coming off of Comanche
as well as off of Arapjo onto Livingston
where it is difficult to get through
that stop sign into the traffic or from
Livingston where you can't even if you
now that the bush has been or the tree
has been trimmed, you still can't see
far enough down once you stop at a full
stop behind that white
to see traffic coming to get out into
the road. Why don't we spend some of
that money that we're getting from us
ticket
ticketer people who put stop lights up
traffic lights at those two places at
Livingston and Arapjo and at Livingston
and Comanche.
Well, I guess we can look into that as
part of today's conversation. U, it's
not something we had thought about
before. We can look into it and we're
trying to gather ideas and we'll be
taking the feedback, discuss um any
potential changes or modifications.
Uh or just what we do next. Let's put it
that way. We discuss what we do next
after tonight.
>> There is a stop sign. I mean, there is a
light, traffic light at Birwood and
Livingston.
We should have one. We should have those
stop lightss.
» Thank you. Uh I see council member
McDonald online with a comment.
>> Yes. I just have one quick comment.
Thank you for um coming and sharing with
us this information. and I represent
Ward 1. And my question is
from a program perspective, what rate
determines success
in in making the adjustments in terms of
the cameras going away?
It sounds like a question for the
council. Does does Avio have a
percentage or is there a recommended
threshold where you know it seems like
missions accomplished or where we
consider temporarily decommissioning
cameras or what like what maybe it's a
question for the council and I think we
can maybe talk about and discuss some
benchmarks uh for success if safety is
what we're aiming for. We know we won't
get to 100%.
Mayor, I'm asking AIO from their
experience,
[clears throat]
>> what has been the rate that determines
the cameras being removed from areas
where change behavior has taken place.
>> So, we don't have any set percentage.
This is a pilot
program in PG County. the legislation
has that is a four-year pilot and we do
send the county data every year and they
will probably ultimately make that
decision of what is an acceptable
is this program working or it's not. But
to uh the mayor's point, like I would
love to know what the council and mayor
and what the residents would find maybe
an acceptable percentage like when we
have found success. But all from our
perspective, the the lower it gets the
better. And if we're still seeing trends
go down, they're still working.
» I see another hand up. Uh can someone
tell me that name?
What's the first name? Oh, Levelin
Hamlet. Hammet, excuse me.
>> Hi. Um, so yeah, I am just curious about
uh what he said about the two things.
One that the tickets we would have
tickets um within uh either three or 10
day time frame. I have 25 tickets in
front of me right now. Some are from the
same day. Some are one I have one in
particular from 2:50 PM and one from
12:54 the same day and I have them all
in my hands right now looking at them
not the repeat notices but the actual
tickets.
>> Um and so there's that and then I
appreciate what the lady said earlier
about like what are we going to do about
a payment plan because like what am I
supposed to do like I got 25 tickets
right here.
So, for the first question, obviously
that sounds like our mistake. If you
could please give us a call at support
or uh give Ricky or myself an email, we
can help you sort that out. Uh it sounds
like something went wrong. Obviously,
that's not something we're we're trying
to have happen. And your second question
is all citations, you know, you can
contest in court. A lot of times judges,
you know, also don't like stacking
citations. So, uh, sometimes there's
leniency and that's the best course of
action for that kind of situation.
» Could you give the the phone number so
those in the room and those online can
have it? You might be getting a lot of
calls tomorrow.
>> Sure. One sec. I'll drop it in the uh
messages if that works.
Just need a second to pull it up.
and and so so that it's on recording as
well. Supportsafer.com.
Phone number is 8556556621.
I can repeat that because I know that
was kind of fast. support at
let'safer.com
8556556621
and it's regular business hours um I
believe 8 8 to 4 or 9 to 9 to5.
All right, ladies and gentlemen, uh we
do have another regularly scheduled
meeting that starts at 8 tonight, but I
do want to thank everyone who's come in
person and who's joined online for your
questions, for your statements.
So,
we are going to continue the
conversation. We wanted to schedule
tonight's meeting because uh the time is
of the essence and we wanted to start
the conversation as soon as possible.
So, based on what I've heard tonight,
we have several questions before us.
One of them is, does the current
enforcement policy reflect the town's
public safety goals? Another question
is, are there policy adjustments that
would improve public confidence while
maintaining safety?
And the last one,
if I can if I can finish, I just want to
make sure I summarize what we've talked
about tonight. This is not the last
conversation. The last question, it
sounds like I've heard uh is there's two
questions. What does success look like?
And then two, under what circumstances
should the program continue, be
modified, be paused, or conclude. Those
are the questions before the community
and the council. Uh we'll be continuing
the conversation about what the program
looks like next. And we thank you for
coming out, voicing your honest
feedback. We've uncovered that there are
some real issues and we want to address
them and then we want to look at what we
do going forward. So, thank you.
>> Um I'm sorry. Could someone send out the phone number? I wasn't able to write
it down. The phone number that he
mentioned.
» We need the phone number one more time
if we could. If you could, uh, Mr.
Borman.
>> Sure. Of course. Uh,
855
655
66
21.
All right, ladies and gentlemen, this
concludes the uh stop sign community
safety forum. We're going to close this
meeting out and go to the next uh
regular town meeting which starts at
8:00 p.m. has a separate link. Thank you
for joining us tonight.
>> Thank you everyone.
And so,