http://retiredpublicsafety.com/wp/gone-fishing-dmv-style-2/

Gone Fishing DMV Style
Posted on October 4, 2012 by Paul Henry

“Close enough for government work”

One of my concerns in researching and reading about automated for-profit law enforcement devices (commonly known as “red light cameras” everywhere but the Florida law) is the guilty until excused or you ID another. This concern was proven yet again when I read this story http://www.baynews9.com/content/news/baynews9/news/article.html/content/news/articles/bn9/2012/10/3/red_light_ticket_sna.html about a woman in Manatee County. I have a page here that contains a document http://retiredpublicsafety.com/documents/rlc/Summary_RLC_errors.pdf about people that did not run a red light, but still received a ticket. This woman and her husband now join that club, as could any of us that own a vehicle in Florida. Here’s a synopsis of what happened:

Someone (we’ll never know who) allegedly ran a light in Tampa on a motorcycle at 10:37 at night. It seems the cutting edge technology was lacking that night, as the officer reviewing the photos and video had to fish in the DMV database to find something close:

Tampa police spokeswoman Andrea Davis said the officer who reviewed the red light camera photo could not find a motorcycle plate that ended in ‘X-S’ but he did find Fleming’s tag that ends in ‘K-S’. “The officer ran multiple combinations and that’s the one that he came up with,” Davis said. “There is (sic) no other combinations similar.”

There’s a saying that close is good enough for horseshoes and hand grenades. Apparently it is also good enough for automated for-profit device tickets. The officer guessed the tag ended in KS, which was the woman’s husband’s moped, even though the video showed a motorcycle. Did I mention the moped had been in a garage for months?

What does the woman think?

“I was very upset about it,” Fleming said. “I’m guilty now and now I have to prove that I’m innocent. That I didn’t do this.”

Seems as if I’ve written about that a time or two. I was interested in some of her other comments as well:

The Flemings said they’re thankful for the dismissal, “I think that’s just righteous,” she said.

They also said the mistake wouldn’t have happened if a patrol officer was pulling red light runners over instead of a camera being used.

“I think they need to do away with the red light cameras and let the police officers do their job,” Fleming said.

Maybe she should help me lobby for the Motorist Rights Bill in 2013.

It’s sad to see some in government are so misinformed that they think due process still exists for these automated tickets. The city spokesperson had this to say:

“You have that opportunity to challenge that citation and we want people to do that,” she said.

Um, no you don’t- there is no way to challenge the mailed ticket. All you can do is fail to pay it and then get a more expensive regular ticket. I don’t see this as wanting people to challenge the tickets. As I’ve written before, this whole scheme is a path of least resistance to get people to pay tickets. The Florida Motorist Rights Restoration Act will correct these deficiencies by allowing court hearings on the mailed tickets and making the government, not the owner, prove who broke the law.

 About Paul Henry
Paul has a law enforcement background, having served as a Florida Deputy Sheriff and State Trooper for over 25 years until he retired. He worked many levels and positions within the FHP, from road patrol trooper to lieutenant in criminal investigations, where he investigated numerous criminal cases. Instead of catching criminals now, Paul now uses his knowledge and skills to catch those that would use our own government to kill our liberty. Paul lives in the Tallahassee, Florida area and is active with several pro-liberty organizations.

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Title
Comment	smaller | bigger
Name
Email
Write the displayed characters
Subscribe via email (registered users only)
	Add Comment Preview