Miss. Department of Public Safety says it will not execute AI traffic camera contract

The Mississippi Department of Public Safety said Monday it will not execute a contract to use artificial intelligence traffic cameras to issue citations, Commissioner Sean Tindell said in a social media post and in an interview with Magnolia Tribune.

Major Scott Henley of the Department of Public Safety had asked the state Department of Information Technology Services board last Thursday to approve a sole-source contract for AI camera technology. Henley told the ITS board the system would “capture” driving behaviors and “send it downstream to an officer sitting downstream,” who would then decide whether to stop a vehicle and issue a citation, according to remarks he made at the meeting.

The ITS board approved a sole-source designation for Acusensus Inc., permitting the department to execute a contract and lease mobile, multi-violation detection and real-time enforcement systems, Magnolia Tribune reported. The proposal described a three-year lifecycle at a cost of $2,052,000 funded through federal grants, the report said.

The board action and Henley’s presentation prompted widespread public criticism on social media and concern from lawmakers. State Rep. Dan Eubanks, R-Senatobia, said the cameras would be “peering into your car and processing your actions,” and called the effort a “very slippery slope,” while State Rep. Trey Lamar, R-Meridian, said he expected the Legislature to investigate to protect constitutional rights, according to statements reported by Magnolia Tribune.

Tindell told Magnolia Tribune he did not intend for the agency to use the technology to issue citations and that the department “has not and will not” execute any contract to use AI cameras to write tickets. He said the idea had been discussed in the department for years, originally focused on commercial trucking, and that Henley had authority to speak for DPS at the ITS meeting. Tindell said the ITS approval allowed for a sole-source vendor designation but did not bind the department to a contract and that the nearly $2 million in funding would be repurposed for overtime and other enforcement efforts.

Tindell said the episode raised broader questions about how law enforcement should use technology while protecting Fourth Amendment rights. He noted Mississippi law bars local governments from using cameras to issue citations but said it was unclear whether state law enforcement could do so, and he cited existing uses of camera and license-plate technology in high-profile cases as examples of potential benefit, according to Magnolia Tribune.

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