Key points:
• The Alpharetta Detention Center will house some Sandy Springs inmates due to the Smyrna Municipal Jail’s closure and the Fulton County Jail’s intake restrictions.
• Sandy Springs’ annual costs for inmate housing are expected to double.
• The council also approved a three-year extension of its contract with RedSpeed for school zone speed cameras amid changes in state law.
The Sandy Springs City Council voted to sign a couple of three-year contracts at its June 16 meeting, extending one for school-zone speed cameras and inking another to house inmates at the Alpharetta Detention Center.
Because the Smyrna Municipal Jail permanently closed on June 2, and Fulton County is moving away from allowing cities to book misdemeanors at the Rice Street jail, Sandy Springs officials said Alpharetta is the best option.
Sandy Springs Police Maj. Norm Vik said the city’s annual costs are expected to increase from $339,000 to around $770,000. Vik also said the agreement with Alpahretta is the most cost-effective option with routine on-site medical care.
“It’s a three-year agreement that would renew every year, and then each agency would have the ability to cancel that contract with 90 days’ notice in the agreement,” Vik said. “Alpharetta is going to provide 24/7 staffing. They’re going to handle all the booking [and] housing for all of our inmates.”
Changes to inmate housing
The Sandy Springs Police Department and Municipal Court have used Smyrna’s facility for short-term inmate housing since 2018. Once the municipal judge sentences someone for a city ordinance violation, like disorderly conduct, the city sends them to Lumpkin County.
“We’re going to continue to use Lumpkin County, but we would ask that you approve Alpharetta for us to move forward with our short-term housing for arrestees,” Vik said. “Some other contracts that we have seen … with Roswell and Cherokee County … were going to be more costly.”
This month, Alpharetta also signed an agreement with the city of Milton. Both cities will pay $165 per inmate per day. Before Alpharetta took over the detention center, the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office managed the facility, known as the North Fulton County Jail.
Amid the federal government’s consent decree order and investigation into the county’s main jail on Rice Street, the jail was shuttered in January 2025. Alpharetta reopened the 72-bed facility at 2555 Old Milton Parkway last December.
If a person in Sandy Springs commits a felony offense or state misdemeanor, they are typically booked at the Fulton County Jail on Rice Street.
Council members approved the contract unanimously with no discussion.
School zone cameras stay in effect
After the state legislature’s spring session, Gov. Brian Kemp signed House Bill 651 into law, revising and adding transparency measures on how local governments can operate school zone speed cameras.
The new state law will restrict enforcement to an hour before and after school. Also, Sandy Springs must hold a referendum every six years to renew contracts, like its agreement with RedSpeed.
The compromise, falling short of an outright ban, requires periodic local referendums, consistent penalties of $75, clearer warning signs, and camera accuracy testing.
Related story:
• Norcross approves 5.5-year extension for RedSpeed school-zone cameras
The referendum requirement doesn’t kick in until July 2027, so the city won’t have to send the measure to voters until 2029 unless it wants a new contract for school zone speed cameras. The city also has one year to install flashing lights on signs.
The council also discussed the visibility of existing signs around Riverwood International Charter and North Springs high schools and the potential expansion to two interested private schools.
Sandy Springs majority backs cameras
Council member Melody Kelley, the lone dissenting vote, said she thinks the city is relying on automatic ticketing as a blunt instrument, suggesting it overly punishes drivers without long-term deterrence.
“I’ve also developed a skepticism that deterrence tied to profit models is effective in the long term,” Kelley said. “If we get to zero [citations], we will no longer have the cameras, because there would no longer be profit to support having the cameras.”
Based on city revenue records, the program collected around $604,00 in one year, with about $211,000 going to RedSpeed per the city’s contract. The city’s roughly $393,000 can be used for law enforcement purposes.
For comparison, the city of Norcross in southwest Gwinnett County collects about $2.5 million in fines each year
Sandy Springs Police Maj. Mike Lindstrom said he “absolutely understands” Kelley’s points, but thinks the automated cameras are a valuable tool to slow down speeding around schools.
Lindstrom said only 17 out of 13,000 tickets have been contested. He also said the citations do not add points to a driver’s license and are often issued to nonresidents.
Council member Frank Roberts, a retired Sandy Springs police sergeant, said he witnessed the fatality of an elementary school student who was struck by a speeding car and wants the automated cameras everywhere.
“The whole thing behind this agenda item is the safety of the children,” Roberts said. “It doesn’t have anything to do with the people who were driving the cars, other than the fact that they were violating the law.”
