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- Magnolia Tribune brings you a Bill of the Day for the 2025 Mississippi legislative session that just may pique your interest.
Whether Mississippi cities and counties should be allowed to utilize new traffic enforcement technology, and the parameters around the use of the devices, is up for debate in the Legislature this session.
State Senator Joey Fillingane (R) has filed legislation to clarify the legal definition regarding the use of automated recording equipment in traffic enforcement.
The bill – SB 2201 – amends Mississippi Code Section 17-25-19 to include that “automated recording equipment or system” mean any automated recording equipment or system operated manually by a law enforcement officer. Adding this language would mean those hand-held devices would be also prohibited in the state.
Mississippi law currently prohibits county and municipal governments from “installing” cameras to automatically detect traffic violations. It does not, however, explicitly address whether officers holding a camera to manually detect violations is prohibited.
The push to clarify the law and add the additional language came into focus during the fall of 2024 after the cities of Moss Point and Hattiesburg reportedly entered into agreements with a company for their police officers to use new hand-held radar cameras to detect traffic violations. Other communities, such as Ocean Springs, have also attempted to use new traffic technology devices in recent years.
READ MORE: Traffic camera case in Moss Point could have statewide implications
As previously reported, the devices record drivers and vehicle license plates. Violators are then mailed a ticket. The practice allows officers to ticket multiple violators in a short span without having to conduct traditional traffic stops, a feature advocates for the technology say is safer for the officer. Backers of the technology also believe its use aids police departments that are shorthanded, calling it “a force multiplier.”
However, opposition to the use of the devices, whether installed on a pole or operated manually through a hand-held device, say it violates “the spirit” of the current law.
Current law states that “automated recording equipment or system” means “a camera or optical device installed to work in conjunction with a traffic control signal or radar speed detection equipment, or both, and designed to record images that depict the license plate attached to the rear of a motor vehicle that is not operated in compliance with instructions of the traffic control signal or the posted speed limit.”
The traffic camera prohibition law on the books now was passed by the Legislature in 2009 and signed by former Governor Haley Barbour (R). The legislation was authored by former State Rep. Edward Blackmon (D) and co-authored by former State Rep. Mark DuVall (D). It passed 42-9 in the Mississippi Senate and 111-9 in the Mississippi House of Representatives.
Other bills have been filed this session, along with Senator Fillingane’s measure, related to automated recording devices in traffic enforcement by municipalities and counties.
One bill filed in the House by State Rep. Charles Blackwell (R) and co-authored by 9 other lawmakers doesn’t outlaw the devices altogether but rather seeks to help ensure constitutional due process for alleged traffic violators.
Blackwell’s legislation – HB 1090 – outlines that if a manually operated automated recording equipment or system is utilized by a law enforcement officer, “then such officer shall prove and positively verify who was operating a vehicle to enforce compliance with traffic signals, traffic speeds or other traffic laws, rules or regulations on any public street, road or highway within this state or to impose or collect any civil or criminal fine, fee or penalty for any such violation.”
Senator Fillingane’s bill has been referred to the Senate Judiciary B Committee while Rep. Blackwell’s measure awaits consideration in the House Judiciary B Committee.
Frank Corder
