Habersham pauses bus camera tickets amid questions over who authorized them

CLARKESVILLE, Ga. — Habersham County’s school bus camera ticketing program has been temporarily paused after questions surfaced about why school police were approving citations using the Sheriff’s Office’s agency identifier when the sheriff’s office had no role in issuing them.

Sheriff Robin Krockum told Now Georgia the Gatekeeper Systems program will remain paused while officials correct problems involving the law-enforcement identification number, the county seal appearing on tickets and who reviews and approves violations before citations are mailed to drivers.

The issue goes beyond whose name appears on a ticket. The 2016 agreement governing the program assigns the Sheriff’s Office responsibility for reviewing recorded violations and deciding whether the evidence supports issuing a citation. It gives Habersham County Schools Police no role.

Yet school police have been approving the tickets, while Krockum says his deputies have not been reviewing them. No written amendment provided to Now Georgia explains or authorizes that change.

A resident’s $1,050 citation illustrates the problem: It names a school police officer as the reviewing officer but carries the Sheriff’s Office’s identifying number, known as an ORI, and the county government seal. Those markings connect the ticket to agencies that say they were not involved in approving it.

County officials have also been unable to establish how the arrangement was authorized. County Manager Tim Sims said staff could find no record that commissioners approved the 2016 agreement and no copy of the underlying vendor contract in county files. He previously said the vendor contract appeared to have expired and questioned how it could have continued without the required approvals.

Together, those findings leave a central question: What authorized school police to issue tickets under an agreement that assigned that responsibility to the Sheriff’s Office?

The pause follows Now Georgia’s reporting on those discrepancies and county officials’ efforts to get answers.

For drivers already ticketed, another question remains unresolved: Will they still have to pay, or get their money back if they already have?

Habersham County Schools has not told Now Georgia whether outstanding citations will be canceled or suspended, or whether paid tickets will be refunded. Records covering January 2024 through August 2026 list $30,450 in penalties and processing fees, with $10,500 paid and $19,950 outstanding.

The school district previously said it was updating the agreement to reflect changes in the law and local law-enforcement leadership. At the time, Sims said county administration had not been contacted about that process. He said any new agreement would need review by the county attorney and approval from commissioners.

While camera ticketing is paused, Krockum said he plans to increase the presence of Sheriff’s Office school resource officers along bus routes to provide additional enforcement and visibility around buses.

The temporary halt is the first known operational change since questions about the program surfaced.

Now Georgia is also following up on information received from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation about Habersham County Schools Police, including its agency filings, any associated audits and the status of its own ORI. Those findings will be reported once the records and information have been fully verified.