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As use of speed cameras continues to grow in our area, we continue to grow more concerned with their use by local communities for the purpose of paying the bills.
This week, we learned not only is Weathersfield Township not happy with the additional $28,938 in revenue the cameras have generated since January 1, but now the township trustees want to go after the 14 percent of speeders who apparently are refusing to pay the fines that showed up in their mailboxes.
Weathersfield Township Fiscal Officer Fred Bobovnyk reported to township trustees this week that the township has collected fines from the 537 or so unsuspecting speeders caught on camera since January. However, about 94 or so others who were caught on camera and fined have not paid their $100 fines.
As a result, trustees voted Tuesday to hire Capital Recovery Systems, a collection agency, to chase down those who haven’t paid. And if they are delinquent, the owner of the automobile’s credit rating could be at risk.
That’s right. An unsuspecting motorist who just happened to be driving through Weathersfield, who never is pulled over by police and who learns of the infraction only when a fine shows up in his or her mailbox, now faces the possibility of damaged credit. And let’s not forget the ticket and collection efforts target the owner of the vehicle – not necessarily the person was driving when the car was photographed allegedly speeding.
We believe the idea of policing for profit is unconscionable. We also suspect that many police officers being told to sit roadside, camera in hand, with no need to pull speeders over, probably feel the same way. In fact, most good police officers probably would confirm that running traffic patrols the old-fashioned way – by actually pulling over speeders – often results in more serious arrests.
Those days soon could be gone altogether as more and more departments rely on speed cameras, worrying more about generating revenue and less about police work like answering calls or actually slowing down speeding motorists by actually pulling them over.