The Hyattsville City Council on March 7 went through the motions of a second reading on a policy to amend the city code to allow for speed cameras to be set up and to establish school zones in or near Hyattsville.

The council held a public hearing about the speed cameras just prior to the council meeting.

Police Chief Douglas Holland said he has received letters of recommendation for the project from Northwestern High School, St. Jerome’s Classical School and Rosa Parks Elementary School.

The cameras would operate from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday and would only take photos of cars traveling 12 or more miles over the speed limit.

Resident Mary Thornton opposes the speed cameras because she said she hasn’t seen any data supporting that they be set up in Hyattsville.

Holland said once a vendor is chosen a study including traffic counts, traffic volume, speed and crash data will be conducted.

Resident Jamie Aycock is also opposed to the cameras.

“The city wants to raise money,” he told the council. “There’s clearly no public safety issue involved. There seems to be pretty much no rational basis for this law.”

Laurie Mical, of the Pathway Schools on East West Highway, supports the speed cameras, saying that they would protect students and their families.

DeMatha Catholic School also supports the speed cameras, especially for school zones, said David Gardiner, dean of students.

Hyattsville has two flashing speed limit signs. Resident Anne Spaulding suggested the city use them to let drivers know when they are driving too fast.

Spaulding is concerned about errors in billing with speed cameras since she was double billed after being “caught” by one in College Park.

The speed camera program would require a full-time police officer, which would cost about $100,000, Holland said.

The city would all revenue generated from the speed cameras up to 10 percent over Hyattsville's annual revenue. The rest would go back to the state, Holland said.