A local judicial officer is calling for an independent review of Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister, after a speed camera company donated $10,000 to his political committee shortly after receiving a large government contract.
On Nov. 19, 2024, Chronister announced a new initiative that would see thousands of speed cameras installed in schools across Hillsborough county, provided by a company called RedSpeed. A few weeks later, on Dec. 26, that same company cut a $10,000 check to the Friends of Chad Chronister political action committee.
Earlier this month, Creative Loafing Tampa Bay reviewed the PAC’s public campaign finance filings and presented the findings to Special Magistrate Thomas E. Santarlas, a magistrate previously appointed by the county as the sole impartial officer to hear driver appeals over speed camera citations.
In a prepared statement sent to CL, Santarlas stated that it’s both “appropriate and necessary for an independent review to take place.”
“At a minimum, this creates the appearance of a conflict of interest,” Santarlas wrote to CL. “In a worst-case scenario, it raises serious questions about whether this could be perceived as a pay-to-play arrangement.”
At the time of the donation, Chronister was fresh off re-election to a new four-year term, and not actively campaigning. The donation to Chronister was the largest donation from RedSpeed to a single Florida candidate or their PAC in the 2024 election cycle.
“Public trust in law enforcement leadership is foundational,” continued Santarlas . “The Sheriff either knew, or reasonably should have known, that accepting funds from a vendor connected to an approved county program would raise immediate ethical concerns and erode public confidence. Given the totality of these circumstances, I believe it is appropriate and necessary for an independent review to take place. I am calling on the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Florida Elections Commission, and/or the Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office to examine these matters thoroughly and determine whether any laws, ethical standards, or procurement policies have been violated.”
Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office did not respond to CL’s request for comment, but Anthony Pedicini, a campaign consultant for the Sheriff’s re-election efforts, denied any wrongdoing.
“There is nothing improper about a lawful donation that was made and received in full compliance with Florida’s campaign finance laws,” said Pedicini to CL. “Any suggestion otherwise is simply wrong, and there is no need nor is there a mechanism within Florida law to substantiate any claim made by Mr. Santarlas.”
RedSpeed creates cash for local governments
RedSpeed gets an automatic cut of all citations issued. Each citation is $100, and $21 of that goes directly to RedSpeed. Citations started out slow—between the installation of the cameras in late-2024 and September of last year, HCSO said 5,800 citations were issued, sending $64,953 to RedSpeed.
Shortly after these citation numbers were made public, Chronister’s office began using the cameras to enforce the speed limit during the entire school day, not just when the lights were flashing to indicate a reduced speed limit during dropoff and pickup. After this change, citations (and revenues) skyrocketed.
Over 100,000 citations have been issued since the start of the school year, an increase of over 1,600% from the previous year’s numbers (perhaps due in part to the installation of cameras largely being complete now). Those citations should put $2.1 million in RedSpeed’s pocket.
RedSpeed’s donation to Chronister’s PAC isn’t the only financial incentive to bring in more funding; Hillsborough County gets $39 for each ticket issued, which would amount to $3.9 million over the 100,000 citations already issued.
Last August, Santarlas told WPTV’s Katie LaGrone that the law is set up for drivers to fail, since it allows speed cameras to operate during all school hours, not just when the speed limit is reduced. He also said that the system in which static, cropped images are submitted as evidence makes it harder to make a good ruling on whether or not a ticket is legitimate.
Santarlas—a Republican who ran for Hardee County Sheriff in 2016—was recently reassigned after repeatedly dismissing tickets from the cameras when drivers challenged them, according to Bay News 9.
“Back in July 2025, when I first raised concerns about the apparent mismanagement of the school zone speed camera program in Hillsborough County, something did not sit right,” said Santarlas to CL. “Based on the information now coming to light, those concerns appear increasingly justified.”
Over the years, RedSpeed has made larger donations to some other PACs, typically ones that support conservative candidates or spend big with lobbying and political strategy firms. The company and its high-ranking employees spent around $250,000 on Florida campaign donations in the 2024 election cycle.
The state law allowing school speed zone cameras in Florida was passed in 2023. RedSpeed lobbied legislators during the bill’s consideration. Less than a month before the bill was introduced, bill sponsor Traci Koster received a $1,000 donation from Greg Parks, RedSpeed’s senior vice president.
RedSpeed was not the biggest donor behind the bill. A report by the Florida Tributary showed that Vicki Lopez, a legislator who co-sponsored the bill, profited greatly as relatives took jobs with a school bus camera company that benefited greatly from the bill’s passing. RedSpeed also donated $1,000 to Lopez.
RedSpeed also contracts with mass-surveillance giant Flock to provide real-time footage from its cameras to the agency. Police departments and federal agencies can then request this footage, which is also analyzed and indexed by AI so that police departments can search for specific plate numbers or queries like “red car with broken rear window.”
Flock has been used to track immigrants lacking legal residency status, and to surveil protestors. It is unclear whether or not footage is sent from RedSpeed’s cameras in Hillsborough to Flock, but RedSpeed’s initial proposal to HCSO highlights Flock integration several times.
The “Have I Been Flocked” website allows people to input their license plate numbers to see if police have searched for them in Flock’s massive database. The site’s creator posted an article last month highlighting the connection between HCSO’s RedSpeed cameras and Flock.
RedSpeed also has cheerleaders in the media.
Tampa Bay Times has issued several opinion pieces in favor of RedSpeed’s cameras, with Opinion Editor Graham Brink recently writing that “critics are missing the point.” In that article, Brink acknowledged that speeding cameras feel like “Big Brother,” but said that all criticisms of the cameras can be dismissed by two facts: citations are only issued for drivers who exceed the speed limit by 10 miles per hour or more, and citations are sent via certified mail to ensure they are seen by the recipient. Brink did not mention Flock integration.
The magistrate’s call for a review of RedSpeed ‘s $10K donation is just the latest controversy surrounding Chad Chronister’s department, which operates with a $653 million budget and over 2,000 employees. Over the last nine months, HCSO has had six officers involved in a major academic cheating scandal, multiple deputies accused of domestic violence, and a most recently, a major fired after being drunk on duty.
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This article appears in Apr. 16 – 22, 2026.