New Cameras to Focus on Traffic Scofflaws

The evidence, spread out like a series of mug shots, was irrefutable.

First, a photo of a white car, with “Double Parking” scrawled beneath it, blithely holding up traffic in front of a school. Then, a station wagon dropping off a child at a bright red curb, clearly guilty of “Illegal Stopping.”

Although the incriminating photos were made only to test the equipment, soon scofflaws will be receiving citations in the mail for traffic violations near schools in Calabasas.

Following the lead of Los Angeles and Simi Valley, Calabasas has equipped sheriff’s deputies with video cameras to record the illegal moves of drivers ferrying their children to school.

Under a pilot program beginning when classes start Sept. 2, volunteers supervised by the Lost Hills sheriff’s station will monitor the public streets around Lupin Hill, Bay Laurel and Chaparral elementary schools, A.E. Wright Middle School and Calabasas High School.

For the first 45 days, violators caught on camera will receive warning letters in the mail, said Sgt. Kevin Mauch, who is supervising the program for the Lost Hills sheriff’s station. After that, fines will be issued, depending on the violations.

Mauch said he oversaw preliminary videotaping at each of the Calabasas schools last spring. He showed some of the resulting photographs to Las Virgenes Unified School District board members at a meeting Tuesday night. Several school board members said they support the program.

“Our primary concern is the safety of the children,” said board member Barbara Bowman-Fagelson. “It will be worth however many phone calls we receive.”