The Constable's Office and Justice of the Peace Court in Brusly overstepped their authority when they issued thousands of tickets to drivers near Lukeville Elementary School using automated speed enforcement, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said Friday in an interview.
Drivers who were ticketed in the school zone and received the citations in the mail should not pay them, she said.
“A constable and justice of the peace can’t just go out and contract with a vendor, get an employee of a school board to sign the agreement and go start setting up speed cameras,” Murrill said. “The law does not permit that.”
Constable Ron Tetzel said his office has not received word from the attorney general on her opinion.
Agreement on enforcement program not valid, AG says
Under a law passed this year placing restrictions on automated speed enforcement in school zones, a cooperative endeavor agreement is required between the municipality and the school board before using automated speed enforcement devices in a school zone.
In this photo submitted by a reader, a constable appears to use an automated speed enforcement device near Lukeville Elementary School in Brusly in October.
Tetzel agreed to suspend the program, which began Oct. 8 and was voluntarily suspended Oct. 23. But he has argued it was legal because of a memorandum of understanding between himself, Justice of the Peace Thomas Southon, Emergent Enforcement Solutions and West Baton Rouge Parish Schools employee Jakouri Williams.
However, the law called for an agreement between the municipality and the school board, Murrill said, and the parties involved did not meet those criteria.
West Baton Rouge Parish Schools Superintendent Chandler Smith said the agreement represented only how the funds generated by the tickets would be divided between the parties, and didn’t constitute an official establishment of the speed zone enforcement program.
In addition to the agreement’s lack of validity, the program of the constable and justice of the peace did not follow the requirement for proper signage indicating devices are present, Murrill said in the interview.
“They’re doing something they’re not legally authorized to do,” Murrill said. “And even if it was within their duties to do this, they didn’t follow the statutory requirements to do it legally.”
Murrill said the constable and justice of the peace will have to reimburse people who already paid their tickets.
Her office will also issue guidance to constables, justices of the peace, the Louisiana Municipal Association and the Louisiana Schools Boards Association, she said, so incidents like this don’t happen again and officials can “stay within their navigational beacons.”