Drivers speeding through highway work zones in Panola County will soon be subject to fines after the Board of Supervisors agreed this week to contract with a company that employs off duty highway patrolmen to monitor reduced speed stretches of construction.

Intellisafe representative Joe Payne presented his company’s program to board members Monday at their regular first-of-the-month meeting at the Sardis Courthouse. Payne passed around a handheld device that officers use to capture a vehicle’s speed and license plate information in school and work zones.

“This marries a radar gun with a camera system,” Payne said. The device is held by officers in work zones and pointed at passing vehicles suspected of speeding. If the driver is over a set limit, a citation is generated and sent to the registered owner of the vehicle.

The system is currently in use in several places in Mississippi. The City of Natchez uses the company to monitor school zones, but resource officers are already stationed at all county schools. Instead, Intellisafe will monitor all construction sites on Hwy. 6 and I-55.

Board president Cole Flint said ongoing Hwy. 6 work will make the traffic in and around Batesville especially dangerous during summer travel and the fall football season. “This is offered at no cost to us and the company will provide support if Justice Court gets overwhelmed. If it helps with traffic safety without a cost to the county, I think we should try.”

Agreeing with Flint were supervisors John Thomas and Fred Butts, with Chad Weaver and Earl Burdette voting no. Both Weaver and Burdette thanked Payne for the presentation, but were skeptical the system would be worth the additional paperwork and court burden that will be generated.

Weaver said without a reliable way to collect tickets, issuing more citations would possibly create more paperwork without appropriate returning revenue. Burdette said the system “simply won’t work” based on his previous law enforcement experience.

With the 3-2 passage, County Attorney Gaines Baker weighed in on the matter – as he will ultimately be responsible for prosecuting the cases in Justice Court – saying, “We will be lucky to collect one out of ten, but from a public safety viewpoint and because it’s no cost to the county, I think it’s something that should be tried.”

Sheriff Shane Phelps agreed, saying the off-duty patrolmen sitting in their MHP cars will help slow some speeders, regardless of how many tickets are paid.