Juno Beach won't release speed van citations

Juno Beach won't release speed van citations: Town officials won't release the names of about 8,000 people nabbed by Juno Beach's white speed van, saying that they don't have the names, and if they did, releasing them "may violate Florida's public records law."

The Palm Beach Post on April 20 requested that Juno Beach provide a list of the names, infractions and those who appealed the infractions. LaserCraft, the Georgia-based company that supplied and operated the van, responded to the town in a letter dated April 21 that it would supply the information to Juno Beach if the Post paid $3,600.

"The cost covers the software development to write the database query, quality assurance time to evaluate the output, computer time to run the query after hours, creation of an electronic version of the report and printing and delivery of the report to Juno Beach," according to the response from Burbank Herndon, vice president of LaserCraft.

The town says it does not have the violators' names because owners of the vehicles caught speeding were issued citations directly by Georgia-based LaserCraft, and paid their fines directly to LaserCraft. The contract with Juno Beach calls for LaserCraft to pay 80 percent of all the fines collected to the town and keep just 20 percent of the money.

In nearly a year of operation, the town said LaserCraft collected about $743,000. The town's share was about $594,000, and LaserCraft's take came to about $150,000.

One reason the Post has asked for the individual records is to see how many citations LaserCraft has issued, how many have been paid, and to verify the amount of money that has been paid to the town. With citations and payment handled by an outside company, there is no certain way to verify if the correct amount is being paid to the town without a copy of the individual citations.

However, Vice Mayor Bill Greene said he is "confident our staff makes sure we get our share." "Besides, this is not about the town receiving money," Greene said. "It's about increasing safety on our roads."

Even if the town had the names, releasing the information could violate Florida public records law, Juno Beach Town Attorney Len Rubin said via e-mail. During the appeals of infractions, the town "consistently" was accused of violating privacy rights of motorists, Rubin said.

"My concern is that once all this information is released, the town will again face similar accusations," Rubin wrote in an e-mail to a Palm Beach Post attorney.

But, Juno Beach is legally bound to release the names, said Alexis Lambert, Sunshine Law and public records attorney for the Florida Attorney General's Office.

"Outsourcing a job is not an excuse to avoid the Sunshine Law. (Issuing traffic citations) is a government function. That makes it subject to transparency," Lambert said.

Unlike speeding tickets issued by police officers, the citations are not recorded by the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. The citations do not appear on the motorist's driving record.

The unmarked, unmanned speed van was parked on town streets for about a year, until it was removed in March. Cameras in the van snapped photographs of vehicles moving 9 mph or more above the posted speed limit.

"The fact that van was unmarked bothered me," said Riviera Beach resident Audrey Fuller, who received a speeding ticket from the van. "Then I write a check to an out-of-state company. The whole thing struck me as sneaky."

LaserCraft, a private company acting on behalf of a government agency, is subject to Florida's public records laws, said Barbara Petersen, president of the Florida First Amendment Foundation.