BECKER (WJON News) - The Becker School Transportation Center is putting the finishing touches on the new school bus camera systems.

After receiving additional funding for 5 cameras on each school bus, Transportation Director Tom Risley says the crew is working to install the equipment across the fleet.

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Becker Schools received funding from phase 3 of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety’s Bus Stop Arm Camera program. The additional money will be used to complete the installation of 32 cameras on each school bus in the fleet. The required equipment has arrived at the Transportation Center, and two employees are installing the cameras one bus at a time.

Once completed, each bus will have five cameras – one looking forward from the driver’s seat, one along the left side of the bus near the stop arm, and three inside the bus with complete coverage of the riders and all windows out the right side of the bus.

All cameras are connected to a recording device on the bus. Once the bus arrives at the Transportation Center, a key is needed to remove the recorder and download the video to a computer.

Risley says cameras on buses are not new, but the quality of the video continues to amaze him. He says the clarity of the new cameras has resulted in an almost automatic request by law enforcement and prosecutors for the video of any stop-arm violation.

The license plate of the vehicle passing a stopped vehicle, as well as several characteristics of the person driving, can easily be seen.

Five Cameras on Each Bus

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