County Watchdog Concerned About School Bus Camera Agreement

ROCKVILLE, MD — A new report by Montgomery County's inspector general is raising concerns about a deal between the public school system and the vendor in charge of installing surveillance cameras in school buses. Questions were raised over whether Montgomery County Public Schools carefully considered a contract with the vendor — whose CEO went to jail for fraud and bribery — and whether the county will receive money from fines drivers caught by the cameras will pay.

In June 2016, Montgomery County Public Schools entered a contract with Force Multiplier Solutions (FMS) to get cameras — including exterior stop-arm cameras — installed in all school buses. Through this system, drivers who fail to wait for signalized stopped school buses will be captured in enforcement photos and issued a fine.

In his report, Montgomery County Inspector General Edward L. Blansitt III said he has no problem with the school system trying to keep children safe, but rather takes issue with the agreement officials have with FMS.

Robert Leonard, the former CEO of Force Multiplier Solutions, was recently convicted of felony crimes involving bribes and kickbacks paid to Dallas public officials that would further the company's business interests. Those interests, according to Blansitt, were mainly tied to the implementation and operation of a School Bus Stop Light Camera enforcement program, similar to the one in Montgomery County.

In 2015, county school and police officials traveled to Texas to meet with FMS to "get a first-hand look at their product and operation," according to the report.

"During that trip, the former president and chief operating officer of FMS, who is currently the president of BusPatrol, introduced (Montgomery County Public Schools) and (Montgomery County Police Department) officials to the Dallas County Schools Superintendent 'to get feedback on the product and the safety program,'" the report read. "The Dallas County Schools Superintendent subsequently pleaded guilty to receiving bribes regarding the operation of this program in Dallas. In deciding to contract with FMS, (Montgomery County Public Schools) and (the Montgomery County Government) appear to have relied upon information provided by the Dallas County Schools Superintendent who, unknown to (the Montgomery County Police Department) and (Montgomery County Public Schools), was actively accepting bribes from FMS while recommending the program."

Blansitt wrote that there is no information that suggests Montgomery County "violated a rule, law, or procedure" or "had any inappropriate relationship with the vendor." But he expressed concerns he has with county officials who have not re-evaluated the agreement they had with FMS.

"It is not apparent that any significant due diligence process took place concerning information supplied by the vendor even after significant adverse information came to light. However, both (the Montgomery County Police Department) and (Montgomery County Public Schools) appear to remain reluctant to re-assess the (memorandum of understanding) or the contract and continue to rely on vendor supplied information to justify the business case and public safety value of the program."

Montgomery County Public Schools Chief Operating Officer Andrew Zuckerman wrote a letter to Blansitt in response to the report. In the letter, Zuckerman said the inspector general's office "disregarded the extensive due diligence conducted by (Montgomery County Public Schools) and (the Montgomery County Police Department) in searching for a cost-effective solution to enhance and expand the Schools Bus Camera Safety Enforcement Program.

According to the contract, FMS was hired to install surveillance cameras in more than 1,000 county school buses at no cost. In return, the money generated in traffic violations would go to FMS until the company could recover the cost of installing the cameras, estimated at $18 million.

Back in 2017, as more information about the case involving FMS' CEO and Texas public officials came to light, Montgomery County signed a new contract and memorandum of understanding, assigning FMS' duties to BusPatrol America LLC.

"While BusPatrol and FMS may technically be different corporate entities, they remain at the same address, with the same telephone number, and using the same equipment on the same contracts. The president of FMS is now the president of BusPatrol and is the same person who introduced a criminal conspirator to County and (Montgomery County Public Schools) employees," the report read. "Furthermore, it was also discovered that the current CEO of BusPatrol is listed in Canadian legal documents as being a Co-Director of Force Multiplier Solutions Canada (which filed a corporate name change to become BusPatrol Canada)."

According to Blansitt, Montgomery County entered a "bridge contract," using an existing agreement between the company and a Louisiana school district. Under that plan, the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board gets 20 percent of ticket revenues.

That type of agreement does not exist for Montgomery County.

According to the report, Montgomery County doesn't split the revenue with the company.

"It remains unclear whether (the Montgomery County Government) or (Montgomery County Public Schools) will receive any citation revenue in the future," Blansitt wrote.

In reference to Blansitt's concerns about revenue, Zuckerman said that the agreement "established a process for the parties to negotiate a revenue sharing plan after" the company recovered the money that would have been spent outfitting buses with surveillance cameras.