Brian McCrary in Bluff City, TN received a $90 speeding ticket in the mail earlier this year, thanks to an American Traffic Solutions speed camera the police department turned on in January. McCrary says when he looked up information to call the police department with questions about the ticket, he discovered something else: that their website’s domain registration was about to expire. So he bought it.

Now bluffcitypd.com doesn’t provide information on the police department, but instead is a collection of news items about speed cameras.

The Bristol Herald Courier spoke with the local police chief, David Nelson, about the situation, and he explained that he’s not that savvy when it comes to the Internet, and the officer he’d assigned to maintain the site had been out on extended medical leave.

“It’s just one of those things that happen,” Nelson said, adding that he turned the matter over to the town’s manager and attorney to see if there was anything they could do with it.

So far, McCrary said, he hasn’t heard anything from either town official about taking over the website.”

“Anti-speed camera activist nabs Bluff City PD’s expiring web domain” [Bristol Herald Courier] (Thanks to Timothy!)

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