Another Arizona city is taking down their unpopular automated ticketing camera system.
This time it’s the Phoenix suburb of Mesa, which has a population of more than 400,000 residents. American Traffic Solutions has been issuing scamera tickets in Mesa intersections and via mobile devices since 2006. Their driver-distracting cameras and illegally parked radar vans are no longer welcome in the city after the Public Safety Committee voted to not renew the contract.
In 2011, a similar LAPD panel in Los Angeles voted to kick American Traffic Solutions out of that city as well. The main reasons given by the panel were that accidents had increased and most people who were sent the wallet-busting $500 citations by ATS simply ignored them.
It’s no surprise that Mesa would follow suit, given the public outcry about confusing intersection lines and the loss of due process. On the panel’s recommendation, the cameras will be torn out in 2014.
Mesa can look forward to their intersections being free from a private company with a profit motive spying on every motorist passing through.
Last summer residents spoke out on local news about the chaotic situation and uneven law enforcement for drivers:
No words from the ATS sockpuppets yet about their ouster. But it’s easy to assume their legal team and internet shills are going to play their typical games with the media.
There has been a lot of whining down at the state capitol in the last two weeks as anti-photo radar/red light camera activists have applied serious pressure on legislators to cosponsor and support HB 2579.
They’ve used every excuse in the book and here are some highlights:
“I don’t cosponsor any bills, that’s just my policy.”
“It doesn’t matter if a bill has cosponsors and you should leave it up to the bill sponsor to contact them.”
“If I cosponsor this bill, another legislator who doesn’t like me might kill the bill to even the score.”
“I really wanted to cosponsor, but I just couldn’t find the time to go over and sign my name on it before it was filed.”
“You’ve missed some (arbitrary or made up) deadline and I’m no longer allowed to sign on.”
“All the phone calls and emails are a turn off and you should really back off before you upset your reps and they vote against your bill.”
These are what we call excuses and poor ones at that.
The real deal is that your legislature is mostly bought and paid for by photo ticket money that funds their campaigns.
The Redflex scandal in Chicago isn’t going away, any time soon. Politicians who may or may not be in bed with the camera vendor in other cities and states may claim that Chicago’s corruption doesn’t apply elsewhere.
Anyone using this excuse is either lying, ignorant or both.
Let’s take the entire state of Arizona as an example. More than 10 municipalities, such as Phoenix, Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Tucson, Chandler, Prescott Valley, Surprise, etc still use a combination of speed or red light cameras. Despite the fact that photo tickets sent by mail are not legally binding in Arizona, millions of dollars in fines are still collected.
10% of that money goes into a fund ironically called “clean elections,” which provides public funding to political campaigns, like members of the Arizona Senate and House of Representatives. These folks, not coincidentally, are responsible for allowing photo radar and red light cameras to litter the roads and scam Arizona motorists.
What’s also NOT a coincidence is that 80% of candidates for Arizona Legislature use “clean” election money to fund their campaigns. If you connect the dots, that means that Redflex and American Traffic Solutions fund their operation and basically own them. If a bill (currently HB 2579) to ban them passes, most of that clean election money will instantly vanish. The political gravy train would stop dead in its tracks and there would be quite a few state senators and reps scrambling to find a way to fund re-election in 2014.
Those are the hard facts and they’re undeniable. Chicago-style corruption with backdoor payola is still likely to be going on, but the scheme in Arizona is right there in plain sight.
What happens when cities (predictably) ignore elections?
What happens when their police departments illegally arrest activists – repeatedly – for daring to speak out against rampant surveillance and inappropriate corporate control over entire municipalities?
What happens when entire state governments are unable or unwilling to listen to the will of the people regarding foreign corporations who base their revenue expectations on mail fraud and phony tickets?
What happens when government considers mere movement a privilege instead of an inherent right?
They get painfully exposed by CameraFRAUD.
Again.
New tools. New Features. New Websites —Coming Soon.
Every red light scamera package needs to be sold with some type of emotional appeal, disgusting and two-faced as it may be.
Prior to last November’s vote to ban red light cams in Houston, ATS used the tactic of running ads which gave the impression that there was some type of populist support for their fraud boxes and even more insidiously, that money from fines would go to “Level 1 Trauma Centers.”
Conflicts of interest are nothing new for American Traffic Solutions. Their red light camera scam in its entirety is classified as such.
What’s coming to light in Houston is a major ethical crisis involving the head of their Police Union. Officer Mark Clark, who is the Executive Director of HPOU (Police Union) was paid at least $10,000 to lobby at the state capitol for ATS and against a bill to ban red light scameras in Texas.
As of July 19th, Redflex red light, photo radar and mobile scameras will be shut off and begin collecting dust until they’re ripped out. This comes almost exactly one year after the end of the extremely unpopular Redflex freeway photo radar program with Arizona DPS.
A Redflex employee hard at work in the company's North Phoenix processing office. (All tickets are reviewed by multiple "Homers," a derogatory phrase used by corporate managers to refer to the paper processors who usually make little money.)
Ticketing and surveillance giants Redflex and American Traffic Solutions are doubling down on their favorite methods of revenue generation: fraudulent business practices, blatant incompetency, and lawsuits.
Michael Evans got the surprise in the mail that no one wants, a ticket for running a red light in Sioux City.
When he looked at the video of his offense he was confused to say the least, because his pickup is clearly on the interstate.
He alerted the police about the mistake, and they sent out a letter of apology to about 500 people who also received the wrong type of ticket, but along with the apology came new tickets for speeding violations.
Town dunce and Sioux City Police’s Cpt. Melvin William was quick to defend the “theft-by-shiny-badge” scheme, presumably at the request of his new private-camera-contractor overlords:
“Because in one spot we didn’t change the wording that the whole thing should be thrown out? No…There is no error when it comes to the fines that were imposed. They were the right fines for what had occurred. There is no error when it comes to the evidence,”
…Except for the whole “accusing 500 people of the wrong crime” thing.
American Traffic Solutions: “Circle Jerk” Lawsuits In Houston
The ruling was a major victory for the legal strategy of ATS General Counsel George Hittner, who worked with the Houston city attorney to create a lawsuit in which city officials, who want the cameras back, sued ATS, which also wants the cameras back. The case was not filed in state court, which would be the proper venue. Instead, Hittner had the case filed in the federal courthouse where his father happens to serve.
…Phony signatures. Phony tickets. Phony corporate cops that defend revenue schemes instead of constituents’ life and property. Phony lawsuits. Laws and due-process ignored.
Happy Phony Forth of July from CameraFRAUD. Because the USA is where your ability to serve as a milking cow to the state and its corporate allies is patriotic job number one.Now get back to work, slave!
"Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master." George Washington
OPINION – You own a car. One evening, while enjoying your private property, a series of sensors and cameras detect your movement and computationally decide that you are exceeding the speed limit. A for-profit corporation receives high-resolution images of the alleged “violation,” which then forwards the allegations to another series of for-profit corporations.
Municipal corporations have a budget and, lets face it, payroll is a bitch for any corporation. Instead of a co-op where residents are viewed as equal shareholders in their community, they are instead viewed as revenue machines ready for milking. The true shareholders in these muni corporations are the usual suspects: investment banks like Goldman Sachs (which also owns American Traffic Solutions and Geico) and Macquarie which just gobbled up Redflex.
Yes, big banks, the photo firms, and Anytown U.S.A. have a lot of things in common: They care about money, power, and control.
Lets not forget that a “traffic ticket” in any form goes well beyond the scope of a tax. It is a lawsuit directed at you on behalf of a carefully-vested collective of public and private entities that survive only on their ability to take by force the property of others. This collective includes the very elected officials that are supposed to represent the people and protect their private property: city and town judges, the town prosecutor, police officers etc.
In grade school, this is called stealing. In muni law, it’s considered “revenue enhancement” and your immediate, unquestioning compliance is not requested but demanded. The endgame to this bastardization of law is obvious: corpgov sanctioned theft:
If you’ve got one of the 15,000 traffic camera tickets the city says remain unpaid, you might want to keep an eye on your car. Police will begin seizing or putting boots on vehicles whose owners have unpaid tickets from the five Redflex Traffic Systems cameras around town, the Las Cruces Police Department announced Tuesday. LCPD Police Chief Richard Williams wasn’t available to comment on the new enforcement action, but LCPD spokesman Dan Trujillo pointed out that nothing about the ordinance itself was new.
“Fighting” photo enforcement by trying to change out the politicians who allowed it to happen is like voting for a new board of directors at McDonalds because of a lousy drive-thru cheeseburger. A better solution is to immediately stop patronizing the corporations (City of Scottsdale, City of Mesa, City of Phoenix) and their hired thugs (corrupt police officers, judges, prosecutors).
In Arizona, the advice used to be “careful driving down to Mexico, the corrupt police there will seize your car on a whim.”
In 2011, we can revise the sentiment: “careful driving across town, the corrupt police will seize your car at the command of a private corporation.
"Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master." George Washington
To: Arizona State Senators and Representatives From: CameraFRAUD
2/25/2011
Two of the largest automated ticketing vendors on the planet have substantial roots within the State of Arizona. Combined, these corporations employ many Arizonans and generate tens of thousands of dollars in revenue each day.
And there’s never been a better time to finally say goodbye.
Photo ticketing schemes extract enormous amounts of cash from the local economies in which they pretend to serve. Instead of this money staying within our community, Redflex and American Traffic Solutions virtually launder these stolen funds through pseudo-local offices… and back to their respective faceless investment banks.
In one corner, American Traffic Solutions sounds downright patriotic in name. Their surveillance cameras even boast a sticker as being “Made in the USA.” Don’t let the smoke and mirrors fool you though: ATS is a pawn of the massively-corrupt investment firm and former bailout recipient Goldman Sachs.
In the other corner, Redflex is being purchased by Macquarie Ltd and the Carlyle Group, two firms which are equally disinterested in the well-being of Arizonans. These faceless monsters only care about profits, and how every last dime can be extracted from their voiceless victims.
Just like the large, faceless investment banks which helped contribute to our current national recession, ticketing vendors Redflex and ATS also create local booms and busts within local municipalities. Unfortunately, the local elected “leaders” are asleep at the wheel, and aren’t paying attention to this modern game of “Three Cup Shuffle.”
Cities and towns are lured in by the prospect of “free money,” usually to the chipper reminder that such ticketing programs are “violator funded.” Contracts are haphazardly entered into, cameras go up, and the money starts to pour in. But as with any scam, there’s always a catch. Programs which start out profitable usually end up in the red, as is the case with the City of Mesa’s beleaguered relationship with ATS.
Citizens revolt, avoid areas with overzealous enforcement, or simply grow savvy to methods to avoid detection. Unintended consequences include a population that has become savvy to avoiding process service, making a mockery of the supposed “rule of law.” Increases in yellow light timing can and have destroyed these profitable schemes, sometimes incurring the wrath of these money-sucking vampire vendors.
Attempts to cancel contracts administratively are met with threats of lawsuits. Cities actually forced to end their contracts due to citizen’s ballot initiatives have been sued by these vendors, proving that there truly is no honor among thieves once the honey pot runs dry.
When Goldman Sachs dumped $70 million worth of mismanaged assets in 2006-2007, they were called “toxic.” Then Goldman conned its way into receiving $12.9 billion in TARP funds through AIG, while turning around and handing out $14 billion in executive bonuses.
Now, it’s Arizona’s turn to drop two toxic “assets” once and for all: the physical presence of American Traffic Solutions and Redflex within the Grand Canyon State.
CameraFRAUD has been sent a copy of a RICO suit that names a large contingency in the scamera criminal enterprise in Arizona as defendants. Here are some highlights of the list of money-grubbers:
*Redflex Traffic Systems
*City of Tempe
*Tempe Police Dept
*Karen Finley, CEO of Redflex
*Terry Goddard, AZ Atty General
*Hugh Hallman, Mayor of Tempe
*John Halikowski, Director AZ Dept of Transportation.
*Roger Vanderpool, (former) AZ DPS Director
*Thomas Ryff, City of Tempe Chief of Police
*Joel Navarro, Tempe City Council
*Judge Louraine Arkfeld, Tempe Muni Court
There are many more listed on the official document here. The plaintiff, Mr. Daniel Gutenkauf has filed the suit under the grounds that all named parties are acting as a criminal syndicate, committing extortion and fraud in order to profit from scamera tickets.
Eventually the scam of photo ticketing will come to an end in this country. If this RICO suit is heard and goes through, it will be a giant step in the direction of a nationwide ban.
The state of Arizona and it’s elected officials have shamed themselves by allowing the criminal behavior of scamming motorists with photo tickets to continue. If it takes a lawsuit to put it to and end in our state, so be it, but our public officials have had plenty of chances to do the right thing and have looked the other way. This shame is theirs.
Posted by warondriving 
CameraFRAUD.com - The Cameras are Coming Down 