Free Republic

Next-generation speed cameras are being destroyed faster than they can be deployed in France. French officials were convinced that mounting speed cameras high atop poles would keep them from being attacked. The government committed to replacing every existing photo radar installation with these next-generation "turret" speed cameras only to learn that the devices are being destroyed faster than they are deployed. According to the experts at Radars-Auto.com, twelve cameras have been installed in the Tarn department since January 1, but a total of thirteen turret cameras there have been knocked out of service during the same period. On Friday, vigilantes...

Colorado’s state congress is taking another stab at banning red light cameras at intersections, according to the Denver Post today. The measure is the second one of its type in as many years, with last year’s attempt failing to gain traction. Red light cameras have been proven time and time again to be not only ineffective at making intersections safer, but have actually been demonstrated to increase the number of accidents in many places where they are used. However, they are huge revenue raisers for many states and municipalities. Opposition to the measure comes from misguided types that are unaware...

Analysis finds no safety improvement from red light cameras in Garden Grove and Los Alamitos, California. Red light cameras are disappearing from California. Once the state had more than a hundred cities using automated ticketing machines, but by now a greater number of jurisdictions have canceled their programs than have functional cameras. On Monday, the Los Alamitos city council decided to keep its cameras despite a new report showing the devices have not improved safety. Jay Beeber, Executive Director of Safer Streets LA, provided his analysis of the safety impact of photo enforcement use to the city councils in Los...

Scott Renfroe's proposal has bipartisan support. Red light cameras and photo radar vans are hot button issues in Colorado. Police say they make intersections and roadways safer, but many motorists insist that the cameras and radar vans are used mainly to generate revenue. Today, Republican Senator Scott Refroe, of Greeley, introduced a bill to ban red light cameras and photo radar vans in Colorado. It’s his second attempt. The first one in 2012 went nowhere. This time, he has the backing of several prominent Democratic lawmakers ... Refroe’s bill will be heard next week in the Senate State, Veterans and...

Link only...cannot post AP

"Jimmy Justice" shoves his camera in the face of a New York City parking enforcement officer who left her car in front of a fire hydrant. He starts filming and he taunts her. "You're supposed to be enforcing the law, and here you’re breaking the law," he says with all the outrage he can muster after his camera caught her shopping at a drug store while parked by the hydrant. "What do you have to say for yourself?" She rolls up the window and drives away, but not before offering the traditional New York single-fingered farewell wave. Jimmy Justice --...

On Thursday, the Lubbock, Texas city council voted to delay installation of red light cameras after a local television station exposed the city's short timing of yellow lights at eight of the twelve intersections where the devices were to be installed. "Many folks believe this is a money grab and then we found out through KCBD Television there's a discrepancy in timing," Councilman Gary Boren said, as quoted by KCBD. Earlier this month, the station cited the rule-of-thumb that Lubbock City Engineer Jere Hart asserted as the basis for timing lights at city intersections. At most of the proposed camera...

CLEVELAND -- Red-light cameras installed at Cleveland intersections have become controversial. 5 On Your Side chief investigator Duane Pohlman said flashes are oftentimes the only clue the cameras caught cars speeding or running red lights. Confirmation arrives later as a ticket in the mail, with a $100 fine. The cameras are triggering key questions before Ohio's highest court. "We are starting to lose our freedom," one motorist said. At the very least, motorists said these devices are just plain unfair. "I think we should get rid of them," another motorist said. For the past six months, 5 On Your Side...

Surveillance cameras like those authorized by the D.C. Council for police investigations and now being put in place have shown limited success in decreasing violent crime in other cities. Baltimore, for example, set up about 80 cameras in May 2005 in high-crime neighborhoods. Volunteers and retired law-enforcement personnel monitor the images in real time, but the cameras have not helped put criminals behind bars. "Generally, the State's Attorney's Office has not found them to be a useful tool to prosecutors," office spokeswoman Margaret Burns said. "They're good for circumstantial evidence, but it definitely isn't evidence we find useful to convict...

Some nights as Chuck Kesterson watches TV, it seems like there's a neon sign flashing "Eat at Joe's" outside his second-story apartment window. But he doesn't get irritated, he smiles only because he knows the flashing is just the newest member of the Gardena Police Department doing its job. Just a few feet from his backyard fence sits a 15-foot-high camera that takes a picture and a video every time a driver blows through a red light at Rosecrans and Budlong avenues. "You used to hear cars gun their engines and trucks honk their horns to let people know they...

White is right: Cameras at traffic lights can save lives Clay Robison writes that red light cameras can help protect us from some of the most dangerous people we will ever encounter Whom do you fear the most? A two-time ex-convict on the prowl for easy money to feed a drug habit? Or a suburban soccer mom running late for a movie? How about a deliveryman with too many stops on his morning route, or a salesman with too many appointments on his daily calendar? The addicted ex-con probably would cause most people the most anxiety because he clearly is...

I have created a public register of "bump lists" here on Free Republic. I define a bump list as a name listed in the "To" field used to index articles. Free Republic Bump List Register

1. I can't reach my license unless you hold my beer. 2. Sorry officer, I didn't realize my radar detector wasn't plugged in. 3. Aren't you the guy from the Village People band? 4. Hey, you must have been doing 125 to keep up with me. Good job. 5. I thought you had to be in relatively good physical shape to be a police officer. 6. I was going to be a cop, but I decided to finish high school instead. 7. Bad cop, no donut. 8. You're not going to check the trunk are you? 9. Gee, that gut...

Crooks caught on camera Brits spend a bundle on video surveillance, but is it paying off? Wednesday, July 17, 2002 Great Britain is experiencing a rise in crime, and the 40,000 public surveillance cameras that have been installed in cities and towns over the past decade don't seem to be making much of a dent. Big Brother is watching, but do the crooks even care? The answer to that question is important for Britain, which has invested much hope and money in public closed-circuit television, or CCTV, as a tool to fight crime. More than $600 million has been spent...

<p>RALEIGH, N.C. -- Too many people in Fayetteville tried to race through intersections before the traffic light turned red, so the city installed cameras to nab red light runners. The traffic cameras are coming soon to Raleigh, Cary and Chapel Hill (also in Rocky Mount - CD). But, before some cameras are up, there is a way around them.</p>

<p>The use of photo-radar and red-light cameras has been pushed on the public as a means of making the roads less dangerous. But what if we're still not any safer as a result of increasingly omnipresent police surveillance — just a lot less free?</p>

Putting closed-circuit TV cameras in public places has only a small effect on crime, according to a British report released Friday, but the U.K. government insists the police cameras dissuade criminals and make people feel safe. The study came out on the same day that police turned on a $4.5-million system blanketing the downtown area of Manchester, England's third largest city, with 400 video cameras. The report by the National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders (NARCO) analyzed government statistics and independent reports, finding that in 14 British cities using closed circuit television, six recorded falling crime. In...

----------------------------------------------------The City of Beaverton needs your help!  The Mayor's Office is attempting to gather data for an upcoming hearing before the House Transportation Committee regarding Photo Red Light in Beaverton.  The Mayor would like the opportunity to be able to share your views with the state legislators.  If you could respond to the following survey by Friday, June 28th, it would be very helpful.  Thank you for your time and consideration. Please type an "X" by the answer that best represents your views. 1.  Are you aware of the City's Red Light Enforcement Program? ____ Yes ____ No 2.  Compared...

<p>The ACLU and NAACP yesterday joined critics of Metropolitan Police Department plans for video surveillance of public spaces.</p> <p>Nkechi Taifa, a member of the NAACP's Police Task Force and a Howard University law professor, said the cameras could lead to racial profiling and spying by police.</p>

<p>Dear Department of Motor Vehicles Adjudication Services: It was so nice to hear from you after all this time. We had about given up. After all, it was Feb. 12 when we wrote in response to the "Notice of Infraction" we received from your friends at Automated Traffic Enforcement about going 36 miles an hour in a 25 mile-an-hour zone.</p>