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The Town of Hancock donated $500 to Children's Village to support the free life-safety education program Children's Village provides to all second-grade students in Washington County each school year. Funds were generated from speed- camera revenue. Hancock was the first town to install the cameras. T.J. Buskirk, chief of police for the Town of Hancock, presented the check to Rochelle Morrell, director of Children's Village. “The Town of Hancock and the Hancock Police Department are committed to Children's Village and its successful safety program.

A speed camera that is designed to address speeding vehicles around Smithsburg's three public schools on North Main Street will start monitoring traffic Jan. 14, according to Smithsburg Police Chief George Knight. But there will be a 30-day grace period before the system starts issuing tickets, which will be mailed to motorists, Knight said Monday. Tickets will be mailed to motorists who are exceeding the 20 mph school zone speed limit by 12 mph or more, Knight said. The fine for speeding in the school zone is $40 and Optotraffic, the company operating the system, will get 40 percent of the proceeds from each ticket, Knight said.

A speed camera that is to be set up around Smithsburg's three public schools on North Main Street could be operational by next month, according to Smithsburg Police Chief George Knight. The speed camera will operate from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, said Smithsburg Council member Donnie Souders. Town officials started contemplating putting a speed camera in the area of Smithsburg High School, Smithsburg Elementary School and Smithsburg Middle School after Knight said there has been a problem with speeding near the schools.

Funkstown officials are considering traffic cameras to catch speeders after the issue of drivers speeding through town, particularly on Baltimore Street, came up during Monday night's Town Council meeting. Mayor Paul N. Crampton Jr. asked Town Clerk/Treasurer Brenda Haynes to find out more about speed cameras and whether the town would receive the revenue from them. “It's like a racetrack through here,” Donald Knodle, who lives on West Baltimore Street, said of traffic between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m. It's also “terrible” in the evenings, he said.

The Hagerstown City Council will vote later this month to add more staff to its police and fire departments as a result of the incoming revenues from the city's speed camera program. Since the speed cameras in various school zones around Hagerstown went live in April, paid tickets through October have generated a net revenue of nearly $540,000 for the city, according to Capt. Mark Holtzman, Hagerstown's acting police chief. Capturing approximately 200 violations per day, the cameras have brought in $215,840 last fiscal year - from mid-April through June 30 - then another $324,007 through October of the current fiscal year, which began July 1, Holtzman told the Hagerstown City Council on Tuesday.

A Sharpsburg man charged last week with illegal possession of firearms is a "doomsday prepper" who told an undercover Maryland State Police trooper about an underground bunker and surveillance cameras on his property, according to a charging document filed in Washington County District Court. Terry Allen Porter, 46, of 4433 Mills Road, Sharpsburg, was charged Friday with seven counts each of being a convicted felon in possession of a rifle or shotgun and possession of firearms after being convicted of a disqualifying offense, court records said.

The first SafeZones Automated Speed Enforcement system in a Washington County work zone has gone into effect along Interstate 70 at the Conococheague Creek as part of the bridge replacement project over the creek, between Exit 24 to Greencastle Pike and Exit 18 to Clear Spring. The cameras began operating on  Nov. 7, according to a release from the Maryland State Highway Administration (SHA). The system is currently in a 21-day warning period, which will end Wednesday, Nov. 28, when violations will begin to result in citations.

Smithsburg Town Council members have given final approval to setting up a speed camera system in an attempt to correct a reoccurring speeding problem around the town's three public schools on North Main Street. The move came during a Tuesday night town council meeting. At last month's town council meeting, Smithsburg Police Chief George Knight said speeding has been significant in the area of Smithsburg High School, Smithsburg Elementary School and Smithsburg Middle School. “Our efforts in this area have not worked like I would have liked them to,” Knight said during Tuesday's meeting.

Big Brother won't be watching, but Police Chief T.J. Buskirk might if the Hancock Town Council goes forward with the idea of placing wireless security cameras in the downtown. Hancock's Police Commission has been looking at a security system it could offer to businesses at a reasonable price, Town Manager David Smith said during Wednesday's meeting of the mayor and town council. The WildFire Connections system the commission has looked at is wireless, could be monitored remotely from the police station, police cruisers or the Washington County 911 center, and has tag reading and facial recognition capabilities, Smith said.

Camera on Eastern Boulevard would rake in the bucks To the editor: Did you read the article in The Herald-Mail about these new cameras to catch speeders in school zones? Do you think they have an extra one they could install on the curve of Eastern Boulevard right before you get to the YMCA? Hagerstown could fill the city's coffers up fast - the camera would be clicking away. It would help the taxpayers in Potomac Manor to be able to get out of Chartridge Drive and either in traffic on Eastern Boulevard or across the road to the Y. You take your life in your own hands when you pull out and go left toward Long Meadow Shopping Center, because the traffic coming around the curve behind you is going 45-50 mph not the 30 they should be driving and they're up on your bumper pushing you to go faster.