The red-light camera scam and public corruption

Red-light cameras have been one of the slickest scams ever perpetrated on citizens by their own government.

Politicians are fond of saying that the best government is local government. Those red-light cameras demonstrate the falsehood of that statement.

In theory, the red-light cameras are installed at hazardous intersections by municipal leaders to reduce accidents and promote safety.

In reality, they have produced a financial windfall for the companies that sell the devices, for the local politicians who often act as “consultants” for those companies and for municipalities themselves, which reap windfall profits enforcing the law through their own kangaroo courts.

I remember attending some of those administrative court hearings in the Chicago suburbs more than a decade ago.

The administrative judges were paid by the municipalities and knew they could be replaced if they failed to ruthlessly impose financial penalties.

Motorists issued a ticket through the mail were also sent a photo of themselves violating the law. They were entitled to an administrative hearing if they felt unjustly fined.

I must say it was amusing to watch as more than a dozen folks awaited a hearing before an administrative law judge.

“I didn’t do it,” a man exclaimed. “They claim I made a right turn on red without stopping and I know I came to a dead stop. I always stop.”

Well, there was a videotape made created by the automated cameras and it was played in court.

In almost every instance, the motorist just flew through the red light while making a right turn. The drivers for the most part seemed honestly humiliated by the evidence. Many, seeing what was happening, just got up and paid their fines.

But there were a few cases that seemed highly questionable.

Some motorists stopped, but their front tires rolled passed the white line in the pavement which is a few feet in front of the traffic signal. Most people didn’t realize that was illegal until the red-light cameras were installed and their friends began getting tickets.

Was it really a traffic hazard? Did handing out tickets for that sort of thing actually reduce the number of accidents?.

It was my impression at the time that municipalities were merely in the business of handing out as many tickets as possible to collect as much money in fines as they could.

In some municipalities the public outcry was so great an injustice that the police officers who reviewed the video footage began overlooking those rather petty offenses.

Nevertheless, problems remained with the system throughout the state and everyone knew it.

That’s why it was refreshing when State Comptroller Susana Mendoza recently announced that her office would no longer assist suburban municipalities in collecting unpaid fines for red-light camera tickets.

She noted a Chicago Sun-Times story that quoted a government official who helped a red-light company sign up municipalities as saying he got a cut of the money paid on every ticket issued in those towns.

“That kind of arrangement stinks — it’s plain rotten,” Mendoza said in a public statement. “It exploits taxpayers and especially those who struggle to pay the fines imposed, often the working poor and communities of color. We can’t continue the practice of municipal employees directly pocketing cash from contracts they arrange.”

Mendoza added that “as a matter of public policy the system is clearly broken.”

“I am exercising the moral authority to prevent state resources being used to assist a shady process that victimizes taxpayers,” she stated.

As for all those municipalities that insist on using this shady process to line their coffers and the pockets of politicians connected to the red-light companies, hey, that’s local government for you.

As for public safety, I think it might be more effective to have automated cameras watching government officials 24 hours a day. It also might help the feds in their continuing probe into the Illinois red-light scandal.

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