Red light camera installation begins

Date/location: February 10, 2011: Baltimore, MD Source: WBAL-TV video story Headline: Dead Officer's Signature On Red Light Citations Synopsis: About 2,000 camera tickets were shown as being reviewed by a police officer that died months earlier. The city claims it was an error and a live officer reviewed them according to internal records. It means nothing that the video is suppose to be reviewed by a sworn police officer according to the sheriff. Believe what you will. The Supreme Court has ruled that police can lie to suspects. The landmark decision regulating false statements made to a suspect is the U.S. Supreme Court case of Frazier v. Cupp, 394 U.S. 731, 1969.

See following red light camera ERRORS. Maybe the incidents were INTENTIONAL: 1) Date/location: September 25, 2009: Sarasota, FL Source: Sarasota herald-Tribune news story Headline: Venice woman's red light-camera ticket: wrong car, wrong city Synopsis: Venice, FL resident received camera ticket from North Florida where she had not been driving and decided it was not worth the hassle to travel to fight it. A second ticket from Lakeland showed the vehicle running the light was a Mercury sedan, the woman owns a yellow Nissan SUV. Officials in Lakeland refused to dismiss the ticket even upon notarized statements and photos. The media got involved and also got the runaround. The cause: Someone in Lakeland had looked at the photo and misread the tag, taking the number "8" for a "B," not a rare mistake. Lakeland police, who are supposed to review the photos before a ticket goes out, failed to note that the tag as read didn't match the vehicle it was on. 2) Date/location: July 4, 2011: Opa-Locka FL Source: WSVN-TV news story Headline: Help Me Howard: Funeral Ticketed Synopsis: Several vehicles in police-escorted funeral procession were camera ticketed after camera company and police review. Funeral processions re exempt from red light violations under Florida law and police officers were visible in the video stopping traffic for the funeral procession. it seems clear that no one even watched the tapes before the violations were sent out. ATS camera system, who denied an appeal to dismiss. Media involvement required to dismiss the tickets.

Instead of spending $4000. per camera, per month, why not use the money to figure out why drivers run the lights in the first place. There are several lights around Jacksonville that get backed up with traffic so bad during rush hour, that drivers are forced to sit at turning lane lights for up to 3 light rotations. That's just ridiculous! What happened to the better Jacksonville plan?