By: Chris Trenkmann
WESLEY CHAPEL, Fla. - A Wesley
Chapel resident has taken it upon himself to record police and government
vehicles speeding without flashing lights or sirens.
Using multiple cameras
installed on his SUV, Eric Campbell said he is simply trying to call out the
people who are supposed to be upholding the law, for not obeying the law.
Eric Campbell said it was a car
crash that motivated him to install multiple cameras on his SUV after a lady
changed her story to police about what really happened in the accident.
By having cameras facing every
direction and recording constantly, there would be no mistaking what was going
on around his vehicle.
It wasn't long before Campbell
realized he was recording incidents of law enforcement cars speeding by his car
without sirens or flashing lights.
Campbell then posted those videos to Youtube, and filed complaints with
local police agencies.
"I'm not out to get
cops," Campbell said. "I'd
just like to see the same rules apply to everybody."
Campbell uses a $300 device
that records video and the speed he's traveling using GPS, as well as any
police car he may be following.
In one case, he followed a
vehicle that appeared to have no regard for the posted speed limits.
"I got up to about a
hundred [mph}, at which point I didn't feel safe. I immediately slowed back down again,"
Campbell said. "And that was
it. I had what I needed to make a
submission."
His videos show alleged driving
misconduct by a Tampa Police car, an unmarked Tampa Fire Rescue vehicle, a
Pasco County Sheriff's cruiser, and a Hillsborough County Sheriff's car.
The Tampa officer was traveling
73 in a 55 mph zone, according to Campbell, while the Pasco Sheriff's deputy
was speeding at 92 in a 55. Campbell
said he clocked the Tampa Fire Rescue employee going 102 miles per hour in Pasco
County, well outside that agency's jurisdiction.
"Once those enforcing the
laws don't have to obey them, what point is there for the rest of us to obey
them?" Campbell asked.
The Pasco County resident said
it's useless to expect law enforcement to police themselves.
"There is this unwritten
rule that they do not cite each other," Campbell said.
That's why he's taken it upon
himself to publicize his videos in an effort to stop bad driving behavior by
government employees.
So far, Tampa, Hillsborough, and
Pasco officials declined comment about the alleged incidents, saying they are
under ongoing investigation. No officers
have been disciplined in connection to the videos.
Campbell is no stranger to
challenging law enforcement. He filed a
class action lawsuit in 2009 after he was ticketed by the Florida Highway
Patrol for flashing his headlights to warn oncoming traffic about a speed
trap. Campbell said that case was
recently reinstated by the Florida Supreme Court after being dismissed by a
lower court.
Campbell said he is not a
vigilante, even though his Youtube videos have provoked reactions by both the
general public and other law enforcement officers. He plans to continue trying to keep police
and government officials honest.
"The law should be upheld
by people who obey the law," Campbell said.
