Photo Radar Under Fire

City Auditor Calls For Possible Abolition — Colorado Springs Drops Its Red Light Program

by Charles C. Bonniwell

Denver’s ever increasing photo radar and stop light enforcement program which was highlighted in the September and October 2011 issues of the Glendale Cherry Creek Chronicle has come under fire. The amount of fines collected has more than doubled in a single year with Denver taking in $3.6 million in 2010 and over $6 million in 2011 just through October.

 

With more and more Denver citizens being fined over and over again, some segments of the population are becoming agitated over what many see as the city simply bilking the residents. In Colorado Springs the red light program was terminated in October 2011 after an outcry of citizens and the failure of the police to demonstrate it increased safety in any meaningful manner.

 

Denver City Auditor Dennis Gallagher has published an 87 page “Performance Audit” on Denver’s Photo Enforcement Program. He declared that the Denver Police Department “has not demonstrated that the photo radar program has a positive impact on public safety” and came to a similar conclusion on photo red light program’s safety impact. He said that “because these programs were sold as public safety enhancements but are widely reviewed as a cash grab, it undermines public trust. . . .” He recommended that unless the safety impact can be conclusively shown “the photo enforcement programs should be shut down.”

 

Denver Post columnist Vince Carroll wrote a scathing piece titled “Photo Radar Cash Cows.” He declared, “If Denver is so determined to fill its coffers with unearned loot, it might as well deputize a troupe of pickpockets and deploy them on the 16th Street Mall. At least then there’d be no pretense of serving the public interest.” He noted that Denver ranks fifth in the nation in highest number of speed trap locations.

 

Carroll quoted defense attorney Gary Pirosko: “The public is sick of cities using them as an ATM machine. I’m telling people to follow the law. Make them serve you personally.” But Gallagher noted in his report that Denver could in the future avoid personal service requirement by sending the notices by certified mail as permitted by Denver Revised Municipal Code. He also noted that “if an individual is not served with a [Penalty Service Notice] then the alleged violation appears to be unenforceable under C.R.S. and D.R.M.C. and the failure to pay the [Notice of Violation] does not result in an individual being referred to collections.” The City Auditor did not opine on what would happen where the alleged violator did not sign for the certified mail if Denver went to a certified mail program.

 

Denver Police Respond

 

In response to Gallagher’s “Performance Audit” the Denver Police agreed that the “photo radar program’s safety impact has not been sufficiently measured” and that the same needed to be done to “ensure public confidence.” To the amazement and consternation of many, the Denver Police then turned around and designated ACS to the study which is the outside vendor that makes almost three quarters of million dollars a year off the program. Given that ACS would hardly be an impartial party the police action was even too much for the editorial board of The Denver Post. The editorial board noted that even though “we’re not eager to see photo radar or photo red-light enforcement discredited . . . both programs clearly rub many motorists the wrong way.” It went on to urge Denver officials “apply the most rigorous possible analysis to demonstrate that the programs are fulfilling their promise and that they aren’t simply means of generating income for the vendor and Denver itself.”

 

Some critics charge that neither Denver nor its Police Department have the honesty or intellectual capability to undertake such a rigorous analysis of its own program that brings in such enormous amounts of money to ACS and the cash-strapped city.