Red Light Camera News NJ Towns make up revenue loss with more tickets
(Thanks to www.stpetecameras.org for the link!)
Towns make up revenue loss with more tickets
Mar 6, 2011 |
Columnists
Bob Ingle
TRENTON — Last week we discussed how so many towns have so many cops and so little crime and pondered what they all do. The answer is they write a lot of tickets to make up for lost municipal aid from Trenton.
In an impressive investigation, the Asbury Park Press found the top 20 ticket-writing towns and cities lost an average of $2.9 million in state aid last year. You think that's a coincidence? The investigation showed each municipality wrote an average of 8,300 additional tickets in the last half of 2010 which could translate into $830,000 more per town from fines.
This story is a must read. It's in print today, on line Tuesday, March 8.
When asked about the ticket increase, officials said the sped-up activity has nothing to do with a dwindling flow of cash from the state treasury. They would have us believe it was stepped up because they're concerned for our safety.
They're so safety conscious in Union County's Linden that they issued 38,900 tickets during the last half of 2010, more than three times the number of tickets issued during the same time in 2009, according to the investigative report.
Automated red-light cameras have made it possible to issue tickets even when the cops aren't around, never mind that they are so controversial that towns in other states have removed them as a threat to safety because they resulted in more rear-end collisions. Is anyone here concerned about the safety in that? At least one state declared them unconstitutional. A real cop can see if there are special circumstances, a camera can't. There are allegations the amber light was shortened in some places to catch more motorists.
In Brick, where there are two 24/7 cameras at work, traffic violations more than doubled to 13,738 in the last half of last year. Linden put in three cameras in August. It's about safety, says Mayor Richard Gerbounka. His town pays a private company $52,000 a month to process photos from its red-light cameras before cops issue tickets.
It's not unusual for a private company to share in the take from red light cameras, it's private companies who are behind the push to install them. No profit motive, of course, these outfits just want us to be safe. In other cases, fines are split 50/50 with the county or state government if the State Police are involved.
No official will admit to more tickets and red-light cameras being about soaking the public to avoid tightening budget belts and cutting back on the status quo. But there is just no other way to explain the unusually large increase in year-over-year activity that produced additional revenue for towns that just happen to be facing a revenue shortage.
When public officials lie about it, they further erode what little is left of the credibility of public officials and increase the frustration people have with their government — and government employees.
When cops' image is reduced to revenue collectors for the bureaucracy, it is a bad day for them, us and our society based on the rule of law and respect for it.
Bob Ingle is senior political columnist for New Jersey Press Media. He can be reached via E-mail at
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
and heard on New Jersey 101.5 FM radio at 5 p.m. Fridays. Join his blog at http://blogs.app.com/politicspatrol.
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