City Begins Using Community Service Officers To Hunt Down Red Light Camera Cases

Many California motorists decide not to pay the near $500 red light camera tickets they receive in the mail. The programs, which are run by private contractors, lose even more revenue when the contractor is unable to positively identify the driver in a photograph, as required under California law. The city of Hayward is solving that problem by opening a photo enforcement cold-case bureau in the hopes of doubling the number of citations issued.

The idea is simple. Each month, Redflex Traffic Systems of Australia processes 1530 alleged violations. Of these, 500 can be immediately mailed out as tickets, and 300 are rejected because the driver's face is not clearly visible in the photograph or the alleged right-turn violation is far too minor to merit a citation.

Of the remainder, there are 730 photographs where the driver of the vehicle does not match the description of the registered owner -- a female is driving a car registered to a man, for example. In such cases, Redflex mails out "snitch tickets," which are notices that appear to be actual tickets that seek to trick owners into disclosing the identity of the driver in a red light camera photograph. There is no penalty for throwing this notice in the trash. About 250 ignore these mailings, while 480 owners turn in those who may have been driving their vehicle.

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