Red light camera generated ticket was wrong, check closely

The red light camera, or photo cop as some call it, is one of the newest tools in the Minneapolis police department's arsenal. The goal of the cameras is to try and curb car accidents caused by drivers running red lights.

There are cameras at a dozen different intersections in Minneapolis that are focused on red light runners. They've been in operation since June and sending out tickets since July. So far, nearly 5,000 tickets have been issued. But after seeing their own video, police admit, in at least one case they blew it.

It's the case of a motorist who blew through a stop light at Hennepin and 11th Street in downtown Minneapolis. The video clearly shows a blue SUV blowing the stop light and nearly colliding with a car in the intersection. But the driver of that vehicle never was ticketed. Instead the driver of the vehicle that had stopped for the light and was sitting still in the next lane over got the ticket.

Police concede both a technician, who works for the company that installed the cameras, and later a police officer who wrote the ticket made mistakes analyzing the video.

Captain Greg Reinhardt said a mix-up occurred in attaching the license plate of the innocent motorist to the vehicle that ran the red light.

"Here's a case where technology worked, in fact really well, but we still engage people to review and check off on things and we had a case of simple error," said Reinhardt.

But before police admitted they were wrong, the innocent driver ? who by the way works for KARE 11 ? said "I called them and got the normal run around and I got mad."

Steve Spriggs said he knew he didn't run a red light and when they sent him the photo it was clear that his vehicle never moved, yet he was ticketed.

To double check, Spriggs went onto the city's Web site and played the video which clearly showed he was in the right.

Spriggs said he called police and tried to get them to log on and watch the video themselves. They refused and told him to pay up or fight the ticket in court. Now that the head of the department has become involved, Reinhardt has agreed to call the court and have the ticket dismissed. Reinhardt says this is the first such case since they've started the program. Other Minneapolis police officers, who oppose the photo cop program, say it is likely there have been other mistakes. As Officer Mike Sauro put it, "The person the mistake is made against ? a lot of times ? just pays the $140. They can't afford to take the day off work."

Sauro says the program is nothing short of a way of generating revenue for the city. While Reinhardt admits the city could net $1 million in 2005 from fines generated by photo cops, he says it was started to try and reduce the 14,000 car crashes each year in Minneapolis.

Another criticism of the program is that it takes discretion away from police officers. "You don't always have to tag everybody. A lot of times a warning will suffice," said Sauro.

He says take a single mom with three kids in the back seat, she'll learn her lesson just as fast by giving her a stern warning as she will by paying a $140 fine.

As for the motorist wrongfully ticketed, Reinhardt says he'll see to it that the ticket is dismissed. And if motorists feel they've gotten a ticket in error, they should log onto the city's Web site www.Minneapolisphotoenforcement.com and enter both the citation number and license plate number of your vehicle. A piece of rolling video should then come up showing the incident you have been ticketed for.

Check out this link to learn more about the program or to see video from the cameras.

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