Posted on 09/07/2006 8:34:57 AM PDT by weegee
...“Administrative officer says here are the photos. You are the registered owner. Can you give us someone else who was driving the car? If you can’t then pay me,” said Kubosh.
At the municipal courthouse, initially two administrative officers will be reviewing contested violations.
(potentially...)
“You are talking about a 100,000 people a year going to that Municipal Court, in a place that is already rampant with overcrowding, “Kubosh said .
...“I will issue a subpoena for the police officer in every case. And I will have him testify that he actually is the person who reviewed that and he has personal knowledge of looking at this film,” said Kubosh.
If that officer is called to court, he will not be available to review citations.
(Excerpt) Read more at khou.com ...
"Ironic" that the ACLU in Houston (the nation's largest chapter) is choosing the fight the city's police regarding the homeless and not this tax scheme.
bad link
Fall out from the Katrina victims that moved to Houston???
Everyone who gets a ticket should go to court and clog up the whole system. Make it nice and unprofitable for government.
Trying to catch them looting. Do Looterdude stay in H-town now?
Correct.
The police have the burden of proof to prove who was driving.
I am sure there is an attorney who: (A) can work in bulk (say, for 1/2 the fine amount); and (B) request a jury in every case for $5 fee.
The attorney can ask him to positively ID the driver -- who won't be there, of course. (Hence, the attorney.) Game over.
I despise red light runners, but this whole scheme to provide funds to the city is beyond transparent. If the issue really is safety, the city would lengthen the yellow light time to allow traffic to clear the intersection.
Can you fix the link?
http://www.khou.com/topstories/stories/khou060906_cd_redlightcameras.745f9313.html
I referenced the printer friendly page.
Will Officer Red-Light "Ripoff" Camera please take the stand and be sworn for the purpose of cross-examination....
Oh... ??? not here....?
Your honor, in light of the failure of the arresting officer to appear in this honorable court, I move for dismissal.
C ya....
Especially when you see statistics that the number of rear end collisions increases.
Photos don't lie. Running a red light at a busy intersection is extremely dangerous. I never take off on a green light, opting to look both ways before I move. In FL, "squeezing a lemon" or running red lights is a way of life. Since my hometown put up the red light cameras the number of accidents at busy intersections has declined. If you don't break the law, you have nothing to worry about.
There are officers who will review the tapes before sending out tickets. BUT if they are called to court, they will be unavailable to review the tickets generated that day.
The more days they spend in court fighting multiple tickets, the more the tickets will start to backlog.
Right now the city thinks that 2 officers can get the job done.
BS I have nothing to worry about. I have the car behind me to worry about.
I've already been rear ended by a soccer mom yammering away on her cellphone who noticed that the light was green but did not notice that none of the cars were moving (because the lead car wanted to turn right and there was someone in the crosswalk).
Officer.. did you personally observe the offense in question??
A: No sir I did not....
This version of Big Brother needs to be bashed & smashed... at every turn....
FYI... I am a (old-guy) careful driver with a very clean MVR.... not a light-runner (or even a peg-scraper on my bike!)
This is about the integrity (LOL) and constitutionality of the American legal system -- ESPECIALLY at the local level.... (secondary LOL)
Nice day 2 U
Houston's homeless "problem" is because the goldbricked downtown doesn't want the homeless there so they have made new laws that say they can't be "there".
There used to be a homeless shelter (Star of Hope) on the edge of downtown. But it was right next to the property they wanted for Ken Lay's new taxpayer funded ballpark.
So they got the boot.
And the Greyhound bus station is in the middle of their swinging nightclub and restaurant district (midtown) and of course the property owners (who moved in there) want THAT moved.
So the homeless are being kicked around, I'll post the article shortly.
Katrina is not the root of all evil in Houston. Crooked Democrats are.
Get a ticket in Houston, call David Sprecher [I may have his spelling wrong]. Honestly, I have been a client twice in the past 15 years; but I have friends (who love sports cars) that keep his business card handy at all times!
This needs to be struck down across the states in the courts. If it is currently constitutional then it needs to be made unconstitutional here. We have 200 some odd amendments in our state Constitution (often to apply to just one municipality).
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