Happy Birthday Photo Radar: DPS May Cut 350

DPS Director Roger Vanderpool seen mingling with Redflex's Karen Finley. Cops be damned: To these people, its all about the cash and cameras

Who didn’t see this one coming?

Arizona Department of Public Safety politicos outsourced their officer’s duties to an illegitimate, foreign-owned corporation on an unprecedented scale. When Redflex was granted the authority to take the department’s insignia and vehicle dress and apply it to photo radar vans, protecting life and property suddenly took a back seat to shareholder profit.

PHOENIX — Budget cuts could leave as many as 350 Arizona Department of Public Safety employees out of work, according to the DPS officers’ union.According to the union, the budget proposal sent to Gov. Jan Brewer calls for 250 rank-and-file patrol officers to be laid off.An additional 100 civilian support jobs would be eliminated, the union said.When asked for comment about the 15 percent reduction in budget, DPS declined.

DPS Dir. Roger Vanderpool, a strong supporter of photo radar and a Janet Napolitano appointee, probably won’t survive this fiasco at the agency: his contract is up in February.

Don’t worry, Rog: Redflex has a history of hiring former top cops.

Redflex Photo Van Caught Violating State Law

City of Tempe Police read a measuring wheel to determine photo radar sign distances on 10/9/2009.

Tempe Police were called mid-Friday after CameraFRAUD activists observed a “photo radar” van breaking the law.

The van, owned and operated by beleaguered Redflex Group, often surveils drivers eastbound on Elliot Road near the Loop 101.

CameraFRAUD activists measured out the spacing of the signs to determine they were not in compliance with the law, which specifies the warning sign closest to the photo radar van be must be placed “approximately 300 feet” away:

At least two signs shall be placed in a location before a photo enforcement system. One sign shall be in a location that is approximately three hundred feet before the photo enforcement system.

Tempe Police confirmed the sign was posted at 743ft, and the van was removed from operational status pending the investigation. In addition, both of the warning signs appeared to be placed deliberately behind trees and shrubs, preventing proper notification to oncoming traffic as required.

Despite the clear violation of the law, no immediate citation was issued by Tempe Police to the Australian company. The fate of any “notices of violation” generated by the van while it operated outside of the law (more than usual) remains unclear, with the expectation that the burden of “guilty until proven innocent” applies even in the event of municipal and vendor error.

DPS Corrupted from Photo Radar Cash?

Witness reports indicate this was a photo radar-related accident. Is DPS trying to keep these incidents quiet? (.pdf file)

Exclusive — Two serious accidents. Two remote areas. One common link: a photo radar van was there.

As DPS prepares to hail photo enforcement as the savior of Arizona’s highways once again, they may be covering up violent and deadly accidents actually caused by the cameras.

Earlier this month in Southern Arizona, a passenger vehicle collided with a school bus head-on, killing 3. While the accident occurred directly in front of a DPS-branded Redflex photo van, DPS wasted no time doing preventative damage control: “DPS says the van played no role in the accident…” reported KVOA, despite the early and incomplete nature of the investigation.

In July of this year, a serious collision occurred in a remote area near Cordes Lakes, AZ. Multiple witnesses provided written statements to DPS directly linking a nearby photo van as a component of the accident, with one witness going as far as listing a “white photo radar truck” as a vehicle involved in the accident. A report supplement filed by a DPS officer included the following narrative:

“All the witnesses reported seeing the gray… car loose [sic] control of the vehicle as it passed the photo radar van…”

Unlike real tickets written by real police officers, the Arizona Department of Public Safety actually gets a “cut” from each paid photo enforcement ticket. Now, during a time of budget nightmares and cutbacks, it appears DPS will do anything to protect that precious revenue stream.

Even if it means putting profit above public safety.

DPS is planning on releasing a photo enforcement “year end review”. The “results” are predictable, the numbers are cherry-picked, and the lies are all the same.

DPS claims reductions in accidents and fatalities in the 20% range within the Phoenix metro area can be directly linked to photo radar. They purposefully ignore the fact that traffic fatalities are reaching an all-time low nationwide, according to the NHTSA:

The U.S. DOT today announced that the number of overall traffic fatalities reported in 2008 hit their lowest level since 1961… fatalities in the first three months of 2009 continue to decrease. The fatality rate, which accounts for variables like fewer miles traveled, also reached the lowest level ever recorded.

In Clark County, NV, an area compatible to the density and population of Phoenix,  has seen a 19.4% decrease in fatalities during the same period. Nevada outlaws the utilization of automated ticketing schemes statewide.

DPS has tried to play these games before, resulting in even pro-photo radar organizations questioning the agency’s ways:

“…even the prominent motorist advocacy group AAA Arizona, however, have publicly questioned the methodology used to arrive at those conclusions. Linda Gorman, AAA Arizona’s director of public affairs, says there were many factors that could have resulted in a drop in collisions.

For instance, there were six-percent fewer drivers on the road in Maricopa County, equating to 10,000 fewer drivers per day on some stretches of highway, according to the Arizona Department of Transportation. DPS also has made an effort to put more patrol officers on highways, all of which led experts to predict fatalities would drop by nearly 30 percent.

Gorman added that AAA supports photo radar… “Right now we’re experiencing an unprecedented proliferation of photo enforcement on our freeways, and it seems that it’s turned into one that’s more focused on the revenue.”

(DPS’) Graves admits the statistics released by DPS aren’t scientific or definitive…

Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu has publicly stated that photo radar money is “corrupting law enforcement.” A former DPS officer even went as far as to say he’s ashamed of his former agency for the blatant cash grab.

If DPS is proven to be cooking the books for favorable statistics or hiding photo radar-related accidents, the department stands to lose any remaining credibility it may still have.

The result? The actual officers and public safety will suffer if the people no longer trust the State’s highest-level law enforcement agency.

Layoffs at Redflex?

Via email:

…Not sure if you have heard but Redflex is laying some people off.  This is due to them screwing the pooch on the DPS contract so bad.  Not sure how many but I was one of the first.  Too bad you really can’t see how the operation is run there.  Totally screwed up is a nice way of saying it…

It’s not just those low on the corporate ladder that might be looking for a new job at beleaguered photo radar and scam cam vendor Redflex Group. Shareholders are infuriated at the way the company has been run lately, and are attempting to oust the “leadership” team down under.

Don’t be surprised to see that shake-up have direct consequences for Redflex Traffic Systems, the pseudo Arizona/Delaware subsidiary of the Australian firm.

Occam's razor: This complicated workflow of photo enforcement doomed it from the beginning by combining the worst from government and industry.

The statewide Arizona contract has been a nightmare from the start, going from being a halo project that could be used to sell other entire states, to a disaster entailing a huge investment of money just to deal with the sheer amount of equipment needed to surveil those driving within the Grand Canyon State.

Hiring a cop to write paper tickets is a simple, straightforward process. When you unnecessarily complicate a task, Occam’s razor kicks in and the system collapses under its own weight. Combine that with the typical bumbling bureaucrats in government and you have the same predictable result: failure.

ATS Chief Booed During Awards

James " Jimmy Dean" Tuton

James Tuton, CEO of automated ticketing scam vendor American Traffic Solutions, was booed by fellow “Arizona Corporate Excellence” attendees while receiving an award Thursday evening.

The gathering is organized by the Phoenix Business Journal and was held at the prestigious JW Marriott Resort in north Phoenix (ironically, a city which just recently dumped ATS for crosstown-rival Redflex).

A CameraFRAUD reader was in attendance and provided the following account:

…hundreds of local business executives and employees of the top fifty private Arizona companies were recognized.

Once the audience realized who ATS was, about a quarter of those present actually started booing. There was very little applause; the situation was awkward. Safety was only mentioned once during the five minute speech.

Tuton also bragged in front of the audience that ATS was adding cameras and contracts at a very fast pace.  The hundreds of executives (voters) in the audience acknowledged this with even more silence.

If only Kanye was around…

"Yo James, I'm really happy for you... but Beyoncé has one of the best videos of all time..."