Ready for your motoring close-up?

The Beverly Hills Police Department wants to use automated speed cameras to target speeders and raise revenue, opening a lucrative market to camera suppliers and local governments alike. But state law must be changed first.

The speed camera system under consideration by the Beverly Hills Police Department uses the same radar and camera technology currently used to catch red light violators. When the radar unit “sees” an approaching vehicle, it tells a series of cameras to snap away, recording the driver’s face and the license plate of the alleged violator. The pictures are then sent electronically to a processing facility and the citation is issued by mail.

The big difference with the mobile units under consideration is their diminutive size and ease of concealment. Freed from their armored fixtures at intersections, the radar unit and camera are both barely larger than a soda can and can be hung off a small bracket fitted over the window of a patrol car.

Two Arizona Highway Patrol SUVs are currently outfitted with the mobile speed camera under consideration by Beverly Hills Police Department. Coincidentally, the camera-equipped patrol cars are owned and staffed by the manufacturer of the camera system – Redflex Traffic Systems, Inc.

The relationship between speed camera suppliers and law enforcement agencies invite doubt about the chain of custody of evidence and its veracity in court.

As red light cameras have become commonplace, so too are contracts negotiated between speed camera suppliers and local governments. Often, the camera supplier is awarded a contract to process the incoming photos and mail the citations. In a particularly noteworthy case, camera suppliers have cut themselves a piece of the ticket revenue pie.

In July 2007, the Edmonton City Council was forced to sever their contract with speed camera supplier Affiliated Computer Services after the Edmonton Sun exposed that ACS had used their relationship with the provincial constable to operate their enforcement cameras for profit. ACS had wined and dined two Edmonton constables on an all-expense-paid trip to Las Vegas in part to secure the CAD$90 million no-bid contract.

In May 2006, the Los Angeles Police Department admitted that data entry errors lead to the assessment of over $1.3 million in parking fines against innocent motorists.

Nonetheless, the process of bringing speed cameras to SoCal has begun and Senator Sheila Kuehl has taken the first step.

SB 1325, introduced by Sen. Kuehl on February 20, would establish a four year pilot program with the Beverly Hills Police Department. The department would be granted permission to use the Redflex vehicle-mounted speed camera system in areas with a 25 mph speed limit.

As currently written, SB 1325 limits authorization to the Beverly Hills Police Department and requires that the camera units be staffed by a sworn officer at all times. Keuhl’s bill also contains a clause that expressly prohibits any revenue sharing agreements with the Beverly Hills PD.

Yet that clause has no bearing on the future expansion of automated speed cameras after the proposed four year pilot program ends. Legislators have the option to prematurely terminate the pilot program as well, thereby allowing speed cameras to be commonplace across the state.

The precedent for expansion is compelling; in every state where a pilot program like Kuehl’s has been authorized, widespread installation of speed cameras has followed.

This is not the first time Kuehl has attempted to introduce speed cameras to California’s roads. In 2005, SB 466 was proposed, giving residents the option to request that a camera-equipped patrol car be deployed to issue citations. The bill failed to make it out of committee during the 05-06 session; a recent search at leginfo.ca.gov shows that the amended bill reads as a near duplicate of the newly introduced bill.

Ultimately, it’s the state’s mounting deficit that makes SB1325 such a threat to motorists.

An automated speed camera can generate fines far faster than an officer and it doesn’t incur the costs of pension or insurance or overtime. Despite the pretense of safety under which they’re sold, speed cameras are a fallible force multiplier hiding behind a veneer of computerized objectivity. And with multi-million dollar budget cuts looming, the state legislature is keenly hunting for ways to boost revenue.

Paging Mr. Orwell to the white courtesy telephone….