CAMERAFRAUD CALLS FOR PHOTO TICKETING SUSPENSION IN MESA
Letter To Be Delivered To Mesa Police Chief, Top Politicos
Accuses American Traffic Solutions of “Severe Negligence”
Click for .pdf of letter
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE—After investigating a tip from a CameraFRAUD volunteer regarding automated ticketing equipment being left unsecured and open to the public, a letter has been drafted requesting an immediate suspension of fixed-station photo enforcement within the City of Mesa.
CameraFRAUD can confirm that photo enforcement equipment located at Alma School and Guadalupe was left unlocked and open to tampering for at least five days, from at least 2/28 through 3/4/2009. Complaints regarding this intersection were received over a week earlier by CameraFRAUD, relating to mystery flashes when no vehicles appeared to be in the intersection or were otherwise obeying traffic laws.
One official close to the arrangement between the Mesa and ATS said that they were “never made aware of the breach,” which has now been quietly fixed by the vendor.
Day One: Wide Open.
From the letter: “As the pictures taken by our volunteers show, the exposed equipment was susceptible to tampering and unauthorized modification. It’s impossible to know if the timing of the equipment or critical settings were modified by vandals, children, or curious pedestrians.”
Included in the letter is a four-point request outlining a reasonable solution to preventing inaccurate accusations and future security breaches with photo enforcement and photo radar equipment:
Five Days Later, At Night: Still Unlocked and Open
1. Immediate suspension of all fixed-location red light and speed photo enforcement activity until a thorough investigation and report is completed by your department into the security of the equipment used by ATS.
2. Dismissal of all “notice of violations” and/or traffic complaints generated by the equipment at Alma School and Guadalupe for all time periods where the equipment was left unsecured.
3. Require substantial evidence from ATS proving beyond a reasonable doubt that each of their fixed systems in Mesa has been secure for at least the past twelve (12) months.
4. Require ATS to obtain an independent evaluation of their system security at least every sixty (60) days in order to operate within the City of Mesa, and to prevent reoccurrences of negligence.
Limited media interview requests can be directed to media@cameraFRAUD.com.
CameraFRAUD.com - The Cameras are Coming Down 
wide open photo radar boxes.
anyone getting a ticket from this location should fight the ticket.
Sweet.
The thing is, you could re-use these photos wherever the identical equipment is used. Show up to court and say, hey judge, the equipment box was open and susceptible to tampering, please dismiss the ticket.
What is the plaintiff going to say? How would they refute that your photos were not legitimate? Since the equipment is unmonitored, the judge would have to believe you.
This is exactly why we need cameras to watch the cameras and cameras to watch the cameras that watch the cameras. You can never be too cautious.
Count on the City of Mesa to sweep this under the rug ASAP. I think the EV Tribune and the New Times need to hear about this. I’d include the AZRepublic, but the story would never see the light of day if they had their way.
Good work CameraFRAUD for breaking this!
If we can’t rely on ATS employees to simply lock the equipment box, why are we relying on them to calibrate and maintain the sensitive equipment contained within?
This is too funny.
you make mention of the evidence locker and a ficticious account of how not to do things…. and you try to make a connection between the photos as “evidence”…. yet you deny that a camera can produce evidence… ie… your claim that one can not face the accuser…..guys you cant have it both ways!!! and where is the proof that these pictures were not taken on the same day by the person that opened it?
finally…. your membership roll is 1500…. and how many are even active? 20?
Okay, *slap* to whoever let L.A.B back in.
LAB has a problem with being intellectually honest. He makes assumptions like people somehow are denying that cameras can produce evidence when the real issue is with the deployment and automated generation of evidence by equipment, the same equipment that is now being proven insecure.
As for proof of the pictures being taken on the same day— can you say desperation?
If the ticket boxes grew legs and attacked motorists, I’m sure the camera apologists would have some sort of half-witted defense.
Mesa is so inept they are actually LOSING money on photo radar. That’s unpossible! It’s the equivalent of a casino paying out more money than it rakes in.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2009/03/11/20090311mr-photoradar0311.html
The ATS scheme at Country Club and University was also doing mystery flashes last week…
Great post.. I sincerely hope that when confronted, the Mesa Police Chief’s response is publicized here and in the local media.
If he (or she) isn’t intellectually honest, their response should be publicly known for the benefit of Mesa. This (like so much of the government reactions lately) will also make great campaign commercials for future ballot initiatives… Get ready public officials, you’re going to be called out on this one..
Mayor Smith & Chief Gascon:
Please clean up your town, do what you should here and have the guts to be the second local government entity (Pinal County was #1) to shutdown this fraud. We voted you into office specifically because you more ethical than the corrupt man you replaced- please step up..
-Mesa independent voter who voted for Mayor smith.
LAB – Why do you always insist on comparing apples and oranges?
A picture taken by unmonitored equipment is far different than a person taking a picture to document what they witnessed first hand.
If human police want to document speeding violations with video or cameras, that’s OK with us. It’s a completely different situation when you have a machine taking pictures and making claims.
The people who took these photos can show up to court and testify. An unmonitored speed camera cannot.
This is really the first time I’ve seen into those boxes. Had I been a pedestrian I would have pulled on a few cables to start with.
Is it me, or is “American Traffic Solutions” rather un-American?
I’m afraid this crap is going to become more commonplace back home in Denver.
So,
People complained about the system firing flashes for no reason (which they remotely do from the office to test the system). Do ya’ll have any evidence that someone got a violation notice from one of these ‘test’ flashes??? So then camera fraud decides to send a couple of it’s ‘santas’ over to the camera to do a little ‘work’ on it and take some pictures that are supposedly a week apart.
Look at those pictures… do you see one single thing in there that you could change to create false violations, or do you even realize you would have to hook a computer up to it or remotely from the office change things? You would need at minimum a portable keyboard for input, and monitor to see what you were doing to change anything in there. Stupid…
Geez, you can’t tell them anything. They have a convicted Felon on here telling people what to do and that ASS keeps thinking of new ways to commit more Fraudulent Schemes. Go figure that!
So, Geez, are you saying that the Redflex computer system could be hacked through this box?
Geez, I’m no ATS employee, but anyone could have pressed those buttons and changed settings on the LD-100 or shorted the diagnostic ports on this PIC-100 with a paper clip. As well as you have pointed out, connected a laptop with a standard serial port to the module on the end.
Stupid…
Good work folks. ATS and Redflex have their salespeople schmoozing up key people in the local government, and continue to pour money into promoting these things. It’s going to take a lot of work to defeat them here, in their ‘breeding ground’ state.
But we have a growing army of people who have caught on, and are now watching them. Every day they make more enemies. And the proliferation of pro-camera trolls on our site are a testament to their growing discomfort.
I have always wondered what was in those boxes. Thanks for posting these photos! A definite breach of private information.
The security seal appears to still be intact. They will simply say the unit was working when they got there and resealed it, and the tamper evident seal was not broken…no harm, no foul. Pay up. It is all about pay up.
A more interesting observation is this unit is not serviced in five days, yet most common scientific sampling devices are required to be recalibrated daily to meet government regs. As are mobile photo enforcement devices when they move to new locations. Yet how long do fixed devices go between recalibrations? How frequently between maintenances? And when a service tech shows up, do his initial recordings get preserved and if they are out of specification, do all citations from that prior certification period get tossed?
I take it back. That is not a seal. It is a piece of knotted string. I am getting old.
Stacey asked
“So, Geez, are you saying that the Redflex computer system could be hacked through this box?”
Not a chance blondy
Geez 😉 especially since ATS might complain.
Geez, you ignored my post.
Ok, prs
Pulling a wire or pushing some buttons in there would have just made the system in-operable. Actually going there with a keyboard and a monitor, spending a half hour trying to fiqure out where to hook it up, and then spending another hour trying to fiqure out a username and password, would have just ended in one of your ‘santas’ leaving defeated.
Fascist Nation & ALL- Does anybody know the location/ARS#/Rule# of the calibraition time limits on these devices? I was under the IMPRESSION that Az state law was “calibraition checked/performed every 24 hours…” However, I cannot locate that information “Officially”…maybe I’m wrong or have been mis-informed. Please help. Thanks & Remember…
F R E E D O M ! ! !-Doc from Prescott
According to ATS’s San Diego proposal they are required to do on-site testing only once per month:
Click to access 11-13-2007%2520Item%2520332.pdf
Page 42, section 5b
What I thought was more interesting was section 3.b:
“Any loss of citation data resulting from a failure to properly secure System data communications shall be Provider’s sole responsibility and subject to applicable liquidated damages at a minimum of one thousand dollars ($1,000.) for each captured violation.”
I don’t know…on the second photo – the LD-100 module with Vehicle Detection on it – there looks to be push buttons at the bottom for “CHAN” and “FUNC” with two underneath with arrows – up and down.
I don’t work for ATS, but I’m curious what could be affected by scrolling through, what I perceive to be, Channel and Function menus on the vehicle detection module.
“Any loss of citation data resulting from a failure to properly secure System data communications shall be Provider’s sole responsibility and subject to applicable liquidated damages at a minimum of one thousand dollars ($1,000.) for each captured violation.”
Define “properly secure” 😉
Y’know, I think there’s a ‘culture’ of leaving these things open and vulnerable.
You can see one of my pics here, and another person’s pic here.
Maybe they just don’t give a damn?
Glyph:
ORRRRR, it’s their intention to bait you into touching the box so that they can claim you are tampering with it.
Think that kind of conduct is beneath them?
Joe:
Hardly. I could see them trying to go from Buffoon to Victim by means of another Pickaxe-style attack, but I haven’t taken the bait. Looks like no one else has either.
Geez, are you ATS employee?
The article is finally hitting the media:
http://ktar.com/?nid=6&sid=1101674
Ladies & Gents—I believe “geez” has “outed” himself!
Photo Radar makes the roads “safer”…
Forks make Rosie O’Donnell “fat”…
By th’ way, after a little instruction from a computer guru friend-o-mine, I found the general answer to my previously posted query about maint. sched. on photo equip…once a month is the answer. Maybe if that were increased, scamera corps wouldn’t leave their doors open. Whatta’ buncha’ DOPES!!! I’m suprised some tweekerz didn’t kype their goodies.
Remember…F R E E D O M ! ! !-Doc from Prescott
Good point Doc, but I feel like these guys out themselves when they come to a website/blog that they don’t agree with and spend endless hours trying to refute each and every post.
Keep watching your toilet water spin counter-clockwise mates! 😉 -RT
I would have probably just pissed in it. Then waited, and laughed when the window licker from Redflex showed up to work on it.
Shows who the better “man” is: camerafraud or “The Man,” ATS.
If it was me, I would have ripped all that s… out of there and thrown it through their front office windows, Discount Tire-style.
Instead you guys used restraint… bravo!
Walter-Up here, we use inoperative electronic equipment for TARGETS…I imagine that after a few Kiltlifters, we could get us a cab, & hunt down th’ left open doors, & “hydrate” them accordingly. We could call it th’ “Valley P Party”!!!
Remember…F R E E D O M ! ! !-Doc from Prescott
One of the local people running for office (a libertarian I believe) answered a quiz from AZCentral about what he would do first thing in Washington:
“I’d keep the lens polished and the guillotine sharpened” was his reply.
Obviously ATS and company doesn’t like it when they’re caught on camera screwing up. Their spokesthing Weiss was on the radio saying you guys are a questionable group and that the pictures aren’t reliable, even though he didn’t see them. LOL!
Doc…I’ll buy the first round. Where should we meet?
Mississippi has an interesting twist on their “ban photo radar” bill, which btw is going to the governor!
http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20090312/NEWS010504/903120356/1001/news
A little blurb on ABC15.
Poor Josh…..Blame the messenger…:-)
Wow, Josh doesn’t know much of anything, huh?
Those pictures must have just been carefully drawn with an etch-a-sketch. ATS would never make a mistake.
Listening to Weiss is like choking down the latest report from Pravda. In fact, he would probably feel right at home in the former Soviet Union….
Lets just hope this whiny little snot doesn’t show his face around my neighborhood.
No, sorry DOC, put down the booze, I didn’t out myself, I’m just not a paranoid person like you.
Looking at the pics, it only takes an ounce of common sense to see that those electronics aren’t the fisher price things your used to. Just a bit more complicated.
Or maybe your thinking more ‘james bond’, ya know, cut the black wire, then the yellow and Shazam! Camera takes picture of people running a green light! Right…
Why don’t you ask your computer guru friend?
You did have everyone here over for more than a couple beers tonight huh DOC? So far three of you have blamed this on Redflex?! Hahaha!!
Funny, no one here has yet denied it was CF that sent a couple of it’s santas down to open the box.
Oh ya, even funnier that ya’ll think the city of Mesa is gonna take serious a ‘demand’ letter drafted by some group led by criminals.
Does Redflex pay you overtime for trolling this site? Or do you just do it because you’re worried about losing your job?
I think Mesa is probably concerned about hiring an organization who spends money on a security box to prevent vandalsim and then doesn’t bother to close or lock it.
It must be amateur trolling hour because they are hard at it again. So trolls, in the name of safety, are you going to start a driver education page to encourage safe driving once the cameras come down? Otherwise, you’re all talk and no action, and at least the people on this site are active in their efforts.
lab/geez are the same person. Once in awhile he’ll try to make it sound like they’re having a conversation….
I really liked how mr. weiss TRIES to turn it back around on us. Because cameraFRAUD.com is against scameras, some of our membership MUST HAVE “broken into” their toy boxes. There’s no possible way one of their butt-boys skrewed up ‘cuz it was born in a barn, & forgot to close th’ freekin’ door. As to blaming it on illegal aliens @ redflex as opposed to ats losers, 1 is th’ same as th’ other as far as I’m concerned. They’re both totalitarianist corporations who’s desire is to profit from control of the citizens of Arizona & America.
Walter, when I get my next valley trip planned, I’ll letcha’ know, & by God, I’ll take you up on your offer to buy th’ 1st round. If I spot any open scamera boxes on my way down, I’ll make a note for our “Valley P Party”!!! I’ll ask ALL here to Remember 2 things…Don’t feed th’ Trolls, &…
F R E E D O M ! ! !-Doc from Prescott
James S- I like your plan…
“No, sorry DOC, put down the booze, I didn’t out myself, I’m just not a paranoid person like you.”
I would argue that the camera supporters are the true paranoid people. But in the end they are just in support of this secret tax.
I don’t need cameras to keep me safe, just my own two eyes and wit. Cameras do nothing but video tape the innocent and add another distraction.
Why don’t you tell me about all the criminal activity this group is involved in Mr. Paranoid? I’d love to hear it. Conjecture is weak and you know it.
Please save the security camera at ATMs and Wal Mart argument. Those serve a different purpose and it’s a moot point. Those are installed in retail and business locations and have nothing to do with measuring speed or timing. And you can’t get a ticket in the mail for shoplifting or ATM tampering. Those people have to be caught red-handed.
I’m sorry that I have to waste all this band-width keeping you trolls on track, but I haven’t heard anything new from any of you since this site was created. Zzzzzzzz
Is it true that people (drivers in cars) can be remotely “flashed” from the office as Geez says? Is that true? If so, then why can’t “Flashings” be used to generate revenue for the state and for the private company that gets allocations from each ticket paid. Thanks for the information that Out of State Drivers can just ignore any notice based on “No Confidence” in the system’s integrity and the system operators’ integrity that so many Arizonans have. And citizens in the other 49 states – – “To Arms!” This conspiracy from across the pond is massive (more drain on the U.S. economy)!
Law Abiding Citizen is a worthless troll. His assertion that he has been ruled out as as a Reflex and/or American Traffic Solutions employee simply because he is posting from a residential area in Gilbert, AZ is ludicrous. Anyone can be on one’s payroll and work from home with a different location as his employer. (or the public library) This Law Abiding Citizen Character is either on the payroll of Reflex and/or ATS, or he is some geeked out tweaker that that thinks THEY will go away if he keeps posting on this site. Listen Law Abiding Citizen, this issue WILL get to the polls in 2010, and the voters of Arizona WILL voter to rid the state of these traffic cameras. You apparently like to voice your miss-construed views on this site. Why don’t you attend a camerafraud meeting and voice your opinions? That’s right, your a fraud and fake of your own kind. Now go away already.
By the way, every time this Law Abiding Citizen character posts on this site, I will set aside an hour of my personal life to gather signatures from Arizona registered voters at the libraries, grocery stores, restaurants, court houses, coffee shops, traffic schools, conventions, gun shows, etc… There are so many people that jump at the opportunity to sign these petitions. It’s great when they look you in the eyes, shake your hand, and say “thank you”. Oh yeah, I will make sure the people signing ARE registered to vote in Arizona before they complete the petition. And if they are not registered to vote, I will help them register and then collect have them complete the petition. The really interesting aspect to this is that everywhere I go to collect signatures, the VAST MAJORITY of the people are all ready registered to vote and AGAINST this big brother style of traffic enforcement and taxation. That being said, I’ll see you at the polls in November 2010.
ATS contract with College Station, TX is unlawful:
http://link.gs/OGV2
Two honorable men from Lubbock, TX have introduced a bill to outlaw red light cameras throughout the state.
http://link.gs/G4JC
The video is pretty good too. 😉
Another petition drive to ban red light cams kicks off in the Lone Star State: http://link.gs/ngEg
Cameras causing Arizona to lose tourism dollars:
http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/16/in-arizona-let-the-driver-beware/
Saturday morning I had to go out to Tempe. I am on I-10 at seven in the morning and was already having a difficult time driving because the sun was rising and was right in my eyes, and out of nowhere the driver in front of me hits his brakes. Speed camera.
Had to go back later that day and get to the infamous overpass with the camera, I slowed down and the car behind me almost ran into me. She obviously didn’t know about the cameras. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the pricks at DPS for endangering me and my children.
Glad to hear you survived intact, despite DPS’s “safety” measures.
There were two tally vans on the 202 today. Set up under bridges. One on the Red mountain west of Gilbert. The other on the San Tan west of Val Vista.
Just two more examples of DPS throwing public safety under the bus in the name of profit.
PhotoRadarScam,
Good find on that article about Photo Radar in the New York Times. The columnist even mentioned this website!
http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/16/in-arizona-let-the-driver-beware/
Stacey-Th Pricks @ th’ A2Z mob…(a.k.a. DPS) are quite thrilled to endanger your life, yory familie’s lives, our lives, their OWN lives, th’ poor saps they get from redflex who sit in th’ talivans lives…th’ list goes on & on! Just as long as they getcha’ on their streaming download, & tap yer wallet for their cofferrs! WHOOPEEE!!! Fun 4 ALL! That’s all right. Just rest easy knowin’ th’ cameras are comin’ DOWN!
Remember…F R E E D O M ! ! !-Doc from Prescott
h e l l o
my god stacey… how can we blame the sun on redflex and ats!! surely this must be their fault..you know the sun rising in the east and setting in the west!!!
i seriously question your ability to drive if you can not navigate your car while the sun is up!!!
ha!! you had to slow down cause of the camera? when will you learn …. just drive the speed limit… oh wait i thought you all had a collective meeting ( all 10 of you) and decided this WAS NOT ABOUT PEOPLE WANTING TO SPEED !!! NO THIS WAS ABOUT FRAUD!! seems that it is not about so called fraud but is in fact about how people such as stacey, in her\his own words speed and then try to slow down when they see the signs or the camera!!!
what a joke!!!
Stacey you had to slow down for the camera? So the person behind you almost hit you? So your one of the people that the people here complain about that slams their breaks endangering everyone else? You have up to 11 miles OVER the speed limit until you get a violation! So how fast were you going? Are people like you why the camera’s are there? And why do you care, everyone here says you can just throw the ticket out! Oh wait, more and more people are getting suspended liscences for that. I hope someone sues camera fraud for saying “Throw it out”!
My brother recently got hit with a camera ticket for doing 66 in a 55. Problem? Yes, when the posted speed limit is 65. Of course, he can just go to court and prove his innocence, but this ploy will cause enough innocent motorists to be fined before they realize they’ve been had. Money will NOT be returned unless people are aware of the ruse. So trolls, your ‘just drive the speed limit’ attitude isn’t even correct. If only redflex would ‘just observe our rights in the constitution’ then there wouldn’t be a problem…
Haha, I like that. “Just follow The Constitution” and you’ll have nothing to worry about.
These cameras are asinine. They are more of a dangerous distraction then anything else. Freeways are made for higher speeds, yet drivers are now driving ten to twenty miles below the posted speed limit. Driving 45 on a freeway when you have drivers behind you who are unaware of the stupidity abounding (photo radar) in Arizona is a liability on the state’s part.
good luck taking the state to court for liability!!!
stacey…we will go over this one more time… it really is simple….
if the speed limit is 55… you go 60 ( for your need to speed)
if the limit is 65 then go ahead and go 70 if it makes you feel dangerous…. now you dont have to worry about being distracted by anything other than the road ahead and cars to your left and right.. see problem solved!!!
dan your post makes zero sense.. you say he got a ticket for going 66 in a 55 and then you say it was posted 65…. so which is it man? if he really is innocent then he should fight it… but i guess it is easier to have his brother tell us about it like we care….
I know I’ll be smacked for engaging the trolls… but…
I drive the speed limit – give or take a few mph. Apparently I should be watching the spedo the whole time to ensure I’m at the limit…but I don’t. I watch the road, other drivers, etc.
Yesterday, while driving the 101 in a 65 zone doing 60 (yep – 5 under) I saw a speed van and my reaction was to hit the brakes. I knew I wasn’t speeding but I didn’t know my exact speed.
This is the reaction of a vast majority of drivers (except LAB and geez).
And I think Dan’s point was his brother received a ticket for 11 over when he was actually 1 over.
well then dan needs to learn to write out what he wants to convey and then reread the post for clarity!!
you see guttern1pe…. there may have been a time in my younger days that i had a tendancy to speed… and just like everyone else when i saw a dps car parked off to the side i slowed it down… now that i do the limit and the limit only… there is no need for that knee jerk reaction…. it is something learned… the rest of you just have not mastered it yet!!! give it time….. you MAY catch on… you may not!!!
Clearly – you’ve mastered time and space.
space…the final FRONTIER…
these are the voyages of the starship…
ARIZONA…
whose mission untill the VOTERS change it…
ORWELLIAN TOTALITARIANISM…
and REVENUE…and STREAMING VIDEO
and VIOLATING THE U.S. & Az CONSTITUTIONS…
to boldly SCREW WHERE NO COP HAS SCREWED BEFORE!
Hey guttersn1pe, If I see the name Geez or LAB I just skip those posts. Why waste your time reading drivel from Redflex employees.
Wow, the City of Mesa acted quickly and decisively on your letter(crickets). They must take you seriously as this website.
Add duece to the list.
Give Mesa PD a chance. The letter was dated 7 days ago. I’m not sure whether it was mailed or hand delivered. I suspect they’ll want to do some internal investigation before responding. Government just don’t move that quickly.
I’m sure the response, when received, will be posted here.
The speed on green system at Stapley and Broadway in Mesa randomly flashes me when I go through at 43 MPH north bound. I would have to be going 51 or over to get a ticket. I am not speeding, I am not getting tickets. This has been happening since the system was installed, it does not always do it. The city claims there is nothing wrong with this camera and it is a test flash. So only my truck triggers a “test” flash. Bu!!$hit. The vendor refused to talk to me about it. The city promised to have the camera checked but the problem still persists. I declined an on camera interview with the media about 8 months ago. I did not want to go on camera and add to Mesa’s bad image. This was all before the DPS cameras showed up. I now wish I took the opportunity offered by the media to expose this fraud of a system.
[…] has a history of leaving important things unlocked. A year ago in March 2009, CameraFRAUD discovered automated ticketing boxes at intersections left […]
[…] group CameraFraud.com photographed an automated ticketing machine in Mesa, Arizona that had been left wide open for at least five days. The device belonged to American Traffic Solutions, a company that last month was caught leaving […]