IOWA CITY, Iowa — The Gazette reports that critics say newly installed stop-arm cameras on Iowa City Community School District school buses here violate the city’s traffic camera ban, which was adopted in 2013, and systems like this are designed to create revenue, not improve safety.

According to the newspaper, the law prohibits the city from using “any automatic traffic surveillance system or device, automatic license plate recognition system or device, or domestic drone system or device for the enforcement of a qualified traffic law violation, unless a peace officer or parking enforcement attendant is present at the scene, witnesses the event, and personally issues the ticket to the alleged violator at the time and location of the violation.”

The ban was formed in opposition to red-light cameras and written to prevent police from issuing traffic tickets that rely on cameras to identify the perpetrator or their vehicle in place of an officer, The Gazette reports.

Iowa City Attorney Eleanor Dilkes disagrees that the cameras are in violation, according to the newspaper. Dilkes told The Gazette the surveillance law bans traffic cameras only for “qualified traffic violations” and stop-arm violations are not included.

To read the full story, click here.