California cities have red light camera ticket quota

[buckthesystem]

http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/25/2529.asp

California Cities Have Red Light Camera Ticket Quota

Los Angeles County and Roseville, California each insist that photo ticket companies meet a numeric standard for the number of citations issued.

Traffic police in Los Angeles, California are not alone in facing heavy pressure to meet ticket quotas in tough budget times. According to newly uncovered contract documents in two California jurisdictions, even their robotic counterparts must also issue a set number of tickets each month or face corrective action. In 2000 the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Agency signed a $3,497,960 contract with a Dallas-based firm, now known as Affiliated Computer Services (ACS), to issue pricey photo citations at seventeen railroad crossings. The county further ordered the company to keep a steady flow of tickets, or face corrective action.

"The contractor shall be required to maintain, at a minimum, the existing rates of citations issued by location as summarized in Attachment F," the agency's contract with ACS stipulates. "For any location where the calculated rate of citations issued is lower than the baseline rate of citations issued, the contractor shall prepare and submit a Corrective Actions Report which provides an analysis of the reasons for the lower rate of citations issued, description of the corrective actions to be taken, and time schedule for implementing the corrective actions."

The contract sets as the baseline that the company must issue 25 tickets for every 100 alleged violations recorded by the machine. These recordings include any number of situations where either no real offense took place, or the driver cannot be positively identified -- as required under California law. Nonetheless, if the total number of citations mailed falls under 25 per 100, the corrective steps must be taken to boost the number of citations mailed. In effect, this provides a direct incentive to the contractor to issue tickets regardless of whether the machine properly captured a true violation. There is no penalty under state law for a contractor to guess, for example, a license plate number when the image is unreadable.

The contract documents were obtained by the editor of the highwayrobbery.net website who suggested that these provisions directly conflict with a state law prohibiting "any policy requiring any peace officer or parking enforcement employees to meet an arrest quota" (California Vehicle Code Section 41602). The law defines arrest quotas as any requirement for a police officer or meter maid to issue any proportion or number of "notices of violation." Under California law, a police officer technically "issues" each red light camera or rail crossing photo citation often in a procedure known as bulk approval.

Near Sacramento, the city of Roseville crafted a similar quota provision in its contract with vendor Redflex Traffic Systems, except in this case the beneficiary is the Australian company. Redflex agreed to provide intersection cameras to the city at a "flat rate" of $6000, as required by law. The flat rate, however, is not truly flat Redflex will be paid less if an insufficient number of the $380 tickets are issued. The company can avoid this loss:

"If the city or police waives more than 10 percent of valid violations forwarded to the police for acceptance according to mutually agreed upon business rules established during the project kick-off meeting," the contract states.

This provision in effect prevents police from being generous in their interpretation of what constitutes a violation, especially in the case of right turns on red, by creating a direct financial incentive to approve citations provided by the vendor.

Roseville Police had taken steps to avoid public disclosure of information regarding its red light camera program. In a 2006 memo to a neighboring department, Roseville Police expressed frustration with individuals, including the editor of highwayrobbery.net, for disclosing contract provisions that the city prefers to keep secret.

"The one annoyance are the people who have made it their mission to fight photo red light citations by making public records requests," Roseville Police wrote. "My recommendations is that you save every related document somewhere and when you get your first public records request you send them an avalanche of paper and charge them accordingly."

A copy of the contracts is available in a 1mb PDF file at the source link below.

Source: Contract No. SP035 and Exclusive Agreement (Los Angeles County and Roseville, California, 9/8/2008)

[O'Dannyboy]

Sounds a lot like our government. They are more worried about appearing useful than they are about actually being useful. This is why Palin looks so appealing to people right now she alone represents the "change" that Obama has been harping on since the beginning of his campaign. I find it interesting that Obama is out taking jabs at McCain's "change" rhetoric as "a painted pig" when his own promises can be viewed as being equally as hollow. He doesn't seem to realize he is devaluing his own slogan by attacking McCain on change but then again perhaps that's what McCain is hoping for.

[MorningGlory]

Sounds a lot like our government. They are more worried about appearing useful than they are about actually being useful. This is why Palin looks so appealing to people right now she alone represents the "change" that Obama has been harping on since the beginning of his campaign. I find it interesting that Obama is out taking jabs at McCain's "change" rhetoric as "a painted pig" when his own promises can be viewed as being equally as hollow. He doesn't seem to realize he is devaluing his own slogan by attacking McCain on change but then again perhaps that's what McCain is hoping for.

You have to admire the McCain strategy....you let them defeat themselves. And it's working!

[Guest LadyC]

i like palin, but this thread has nothing to do with her unless i missed something.

i have a solution. they should issue tickets to 100% of all violators. most tickets would get dismissed in court. slight inconvenience to the person who has to appear before the judge and say "it was my car, but i wasn't driving and so therefore i can't be identified. but the benefit would be that maybe people would start driving a little more sanely.

and having spent so much time in california lately, i especially think that motorcyclists should get tickets each time they're caught on camera violating traffic laws. i've never seen such total disregard for personal safety, road safety, traffic laws and common courtesy by motorcyclists ANYWHERE as i've seen on a daily basis in california.

[healingoil]

i have a solution. they should issue tickets to 100% of all violators. most tickets would get dismissed in court. slight inconvenience to the person who has to appear before the judge and say "it was my car, but i wasn't driving and so therefore i can't be identified. but the benefit would be that maybe people would start driving a little more sanely.

I'm not sure most would be dismissed. I can only imagine they realized from the get-go the easy use of that excuse and probably have a way of dealing with it.

and having spent so much time in california lately, i especially think that motorcyclists should get tickets each time they're caught on camera violating traffic laws. i've never seen such total disregard for personal safety, road safety, traffic laws and common courtesy by motorcyclists ANYWHERE as i've seen on a daily basis in california.

AMEN!!!! I can not get over how reckless they are on the roads!

What I don't get is, our laws allow them to pass in between lanes... and nine of ten times I never even notice them until they pass me. I keep thinking once they are by me, what if I had decided to switch lanes right before that?!?! I would have nailed him/her!

Then you have the mountain roads where they use them like an amusement park ride. If they are going to thrill-seek, at least they can do it in the desert on mountain bikes where it doesn't involve other motorists who are simply looking to safely make it up/down without driving over the edge, etc.

[buckthesystem]

Hey People you have fallen for the oldest "trick in the book", "make out that this is really about traffic violations", and you are talking about how good or bad people drive in California.

The point is that this is incredibly dishonest! They are STEALING from the motorist! There's no other word for it!

The California government - or any government for that matter - doesn't care at all about how people drive. In fact if motorists suddenly stopped committing any violations at all, overnight, and became perfect drivers, this would be the worst thing that could happen as far as the state government is concerned.

They simply couldn't do without all that "lovely extorted money" and would be reduced to picking on (say) every 10th car and demanding a fine from the driver for having his car painted the wrong colour or something.

This could be justified, if ever challenged, by saying "we've got to pay for these machines somehow".

[O'Dannyboy]

Hey People you have fallen for the oldest "trick in the book", "make out that this is really about traffic violations", and you are talking about how good or bad people drive in California.

The point is that this is incredibly dishonest! They are STEALING from the motorist! There's no other word for it!

The California government - or any government for that matter - doesn't care at all about how people drive. In fact if motorists suddenly stopped committing any violations at all, overnight, and became perfect drivers, this would be the worst thing that could happen as far as the state government is concerned.

They simply couldn't do without all that "lovely extorted money" and would be reduced to picking on (say) every 10th car and demanding a fine from the driver for having his car painted the wrong colour or something.

This could be justified, if ever challenged, by saying "we've got to pay for these machines somehow".

I totally agree. Their quota only proves that they view these "fines" more as revenue and less like punishments or for the sake of safety. They might as well be setting up toll booths at every intersection or charging more for drivers licenses. Understandably you wish to catch all offenders but instituting a quota on lends itself to dishonest practices in order to "generate" the proper numbers.

[Guest LadyC]

i have a solution. they should issue tickets to 100% of all violators. most tickets would get dismissed in court. slight inconvenience to the person who has to appear before the judge and say "it was my car, but i wasn't driving and so therefore i can't be identified. but the benefit would be that maybe people would start driving a little more sanely.

I'm not sure most would be dismissed. I can only imagine they realized from the get-go the easy use of that excuse and probably have a way of dealing with it.

and having spent so much time in california lately, i especially think that motorcyclists should get tickets each time they're caught on camera violating traffic laws. i've never seen such total disregard for personal safety, road safety, traffic laws and common courtesy by motorcyclists ANYWHERE as i've seen on a daily basis in california.

AMEN!!!! I can not get over how reckless they are on the roads!

What I don't get is, our laws allow them to pass in between lanes... and nine of ten times I never even notice them until they pass me. I keep thinking once they are by me, what if I had decided to switch lanes right before that?!?! I would have nailed him/her!

Then you have the mountain roads where they use them like an amusement park ride. If they are going to thrill-seek, at least they can do it in the desert on mountain bikes where it doesn't involve other motorists who are simply looking to safely make it up/down without driving over the edge, etc.

that's really LEGAL there? oh my gosh. i'm amazed. ok let's forget the motorcyclists and start handing out tickets for stupidity to all the legislators.

as for the other part, i disagree. the camera doesn't lie. if the camera gets the license plate but does not get an image of the driver, they can't be identified and it has to be dismissed, unless you change the laws so that the owner of the car gets the citation. (i could actually see that happening, california is so wacky!)

[Guest LadyC]

Hey People you have fallen for the oldest "trick in the book", "make out that this is really about traffic violations", and you are talking about how good or bad people drive in California.

The point is that this is incredibly dishonest! They are STEALING from the motorist! There's no other word for it!

The California government - or any government for that matter - doesn't care at all about how people drive. In fact if motorists suddenly stopped committing any violations at all, overnight, and became perfect drivers, this would be the worst thing that could happen as far as the state government is concerned.

They simply couldn't do without all that "lovely extorted money" and would be reduced to picking on (say) every 10th car and demanding a fine from the driver for having his car painted the wrong colour or something.

This could be justified, if ever challenged, by saying "we've got to pay for these machines somehow".

wow. just wow. this totally amazes me, even from you.

it's dishonest to ticket people for running red lights, or for driving 90-to-nothing on a 45mph street? please tell me i'm reading you wrong.

i know you don't have much appreciation for government, and in some cases, i agree with you. but do you think total anarchy would be better? why do you consider it extortion to fine people for breaking laws? it's not as if those same people didn't AGREE to pay the fine if they committed the violation! they know the consequences, they accept the risk, and you call it stealing from them to enforce what they already agreed to?

i still think they should sent tickets 100% of the time. period. it would make people drive more safely. including myself. i would be horribly inconvenienced if i started getting camera tickets, but i would not in any way think i was being extorted. i'm willing to accept the consequences of my actions. aren't you?

driving is not a "right". it is a privilege. and no i'm not just parroting some whacked out dept. of motor vehicles spokesperson. there are responsibilities that go along with the privilege of being able to drive. and when you take that driving test, the written exam, and sign your name on the dotted line as you receive your license, you are putting your name on the line saying you understand the laws and agree to abide by them, or that you are willing to pay the penalty if you choose to do whatever you want.

[healingoil]

Hey People you have fallen for the oldest "trick in the book", "make out that this is really about traffic violations", and you are talking about how good or bad people drive in California.

The point is that this is incredibly dishonest! They are STEALING from the motorist! There's no other word for it!

The California government - or any government for that matter - doesn't care at all about how people drive. In fact if motorists suddenly stopped committing any violations at all, overnight, and became perfect drivers, this would be the worst thing that could happen as far as the state government is concerned.

They simply couldn't do without all that "lovely extorted money" and would be reduced to picking on (say) every 10th car and demanding a fine from the driver for having his car painted the wrong colour or something.

This could be justified, if ever challenged, by saying "we've got to pay for these machines somehow".

My husband is CHP and believe me... I can tell you that there is enough activity out here that he usually has to pass up the minor violations to deal with the more serious ones that are ENDANGERING LIVES! To keep up with it all and since we now have the technology, they NEED these cameras at traffic lights. People running red lights and smashing into and killing people isn't a real good thing, ya know?

And yes, it personally ticks him and his officer friends off when people are reckless drivers. He isn't thinking about some quota but rather walking up to the car that was speeding at 100 mph and letting him know just how stupid he is being in that he not only could've killed himself but someone else. It's NOT something they take lightly despite your obvious and paranoid feelings towards those in authority.

You always complain about this kind of stuff BTS but as I've said before, until you put on a uniform yourself and put yourselves in their shoes, you need to tone it down! Is your goal to live in anarchy?

that's really LEGAL there? oh my gosh. i'm amazed. ok let's forget the motorcyclists and start handing out tickets for stupidity to all the legislators.

Haha, I agree although I know if I were driving a motorcycle out here I simply wouldn't be stupid enough to pull something like that in the first place, law or not.

as for the other part, i disagree. the camera doesn't lie. if the camera gets the license plate but does not get an image of the driver, they can't be identified and it has to be dismissed, unless you change the laws so that the owner of the car gets the citation. (i could actually see that happening, california is so wacky!)

I guess. It just seems it would be too easy to get away with something like that since I can't imagine it is easy to idenifiy the people in the car on any of the videotapes.