Nassau halts hearings on school bus camera violations, but town keeps issuing tickets

Nassau County's Traffic and Parking Violations Agency has stopped hearing cases for school bus camera violations, even as the Town of Hempstead continues to issue tickets under the controversial program.

Documents viewed by Newsday show the county traffic court, which adjudicates the town's bus camera tickets, was consistently hearing cases through Jan. 30 before abruptly stopping.

Paul Meli, executive director of Nassau traffic court, confirmed last week that bus camera cases, including those from other towns, have been on hold, but didn't say when the court stopped hearing them or when they will resume.

"There was a pause to ensure that based upon recent court rulings the procedures regarding this and other case types was followed," Meli said in a statement to Newsday.

This pause not only impacts anyone who had previously requested hearings but also raises questions of due process for people recently issued tickets.

"Enforcement without recourse isn't just unfair, it's unconstitutional," said Joseph Aron, an attorney representing plaintiffs in multiple class-action lawsuits against school bus camera programs on Long Island. "They say delayed justice is justice denied. But if there's no hearing at all, it's not a delay, it's a denial by design."

Hempstead Town spokesman Brian Devine said last week the town continues to write tickets to drivers who allegedly pass stopped school buses.

Devine declined to comment on whether the town was aware the county has halted hearings on school bus camera tickets, but he referred inquiries to Nassau County.

Meli's statement last week, issued by Chris Boyle, a spokesman for Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, came after Newsday made numerous unsuccessful attempts over several weeks — including in person, by phone and by email — to interview traffic court officials.

On Jan. 23, a week before the traffic court pause, Newsday published an investigation that found Hempstead Town had issued more than 80,000 school bus camera tickets over two years in school districts that never signed onto the program. The next day, town leaders asked its vendor, BusPatrol America, to throw out those tickets and issue refunds to drivers who had already paid.

Those 80,000 tickets, issued in school districts that didn't agree to the bus camera program, are worth roughly $20 million. Fines start at $250 per violation.

The town keeps 55% of ticket revenue, with the remaining 45% going to BusPatrol, which operates the bus cameras and administers the program. In 2023, Hempstead Town received $13 million in revenue from school bus camera tickets.

Three months after demanding the dismissal of improperly issued tickets, the town has not said when or how it plans to refund drivers who already paid fines on those citations.

BusPatrol declined to comment on the stoppage by Nassau's traffic court, also known as TPVA, saying the company plays no role in adjudicating tickets.

Three drivers who have requested school bus camera ticket hearings told Newsday they have received no word on when they will be able to contest their tickets in court. There are likely many more in the same position, documents show.

Mark Maguire, who was ticketed in Baldwin in October, was surprised to hear Hempstead Town was still issuing school bus camera citations.

"I guess they figured they would take whatever money they could grab from people that wouldn’t contest it," he said. "I think ultimately they're going to have to dismiss the tickets."

The TPVA records from January show that hearings for most bus camera tickets written since May 2024 have yet to be held. The Town of Hempstead wrote more than 130,000 school bus camera tickets last year, records provided by the town show.

To confirm the hearings pause, Newsday reviewed documents that had been obtained in a Freedom of Information Law request. The request sought court dispositions of bus camera cases from January through early April of this year, but the records showed no dispositions after Jan. 30.

Paul Sabatino, an attorney and a former Suffolk legislative counsel, said the traffic court must "afford that person the opportunity to contest" their tickets.

"If they're literally not holding hearings, there's no way to impose liability," said Sabatino, who has been critical of school bus camera ticket programs run both by Suffolk County and Hempstead Town. "You've got a legitimate issue. It's either chaos or incompetence."

Even though drivers ticketed within Hempstead Town have been unable to have their bus camera cases heard, Nassau's traffic court — on signs posted throughout the building — instructed them to call a number or visit a website.

Both direct people to BusPatrol, where they can enter their information and pay their fine.