by Stephen Manning, Associated Press
SILVER SPRING, MD. (AP) - Montgomery County officials want to be one of the first jurisdictions in the state to use cameras to catch speeders, throwing their weight behind legislation pending in the General Assembly.
The county wants to use five mobile radar cameras that would take photos of speeding vehicles, with citations sent later in the mail to the cars’ owners.
The primary motivation is safety, not the potential millions in fees the county would make, County Executive Douglas M. Duncan said Thursday.
“We don’t want anyone to run a red light, we don’t want anyone to speed. If we get zero dollars from this, then it’s working,” he said, standing next to an intersection where a pedestrian was killed by a car recently.
A bill introduced in the House would set up pilot speed camera programs in Montgomery, Howard County and Baltimore city, while the Senate version would allow jurisdictions statewide to use the systems. The cameras are popular with law enforcement - the Maryland Chiefs of Police Association backs the Senate version.
But they also face stiff criticism from lawmakers who feel cameras violate individual rights and are a money grab by local governments.
Sen. Walter Baker, D-Cecil, said he would fight the Senate version of the bill now in the Judicial Proceedings Committee that he chairs. Without approval of the committee, the bill could die and the House version could also fail.
“It’s not a fair bill,” Baker said. “People shouldn’t be breaking the law, but counties also shouldn’t be profiting off of this.”
Some Maryland localities currently use cameras to watch over red light runners, but none is able set up speed cameras that use radar to check vehicle speeds and photograph license plates.
The system has already been used for a half year in Washington, where police had mailed out close to 200,000 citations and collected $7.5 million as of January. Radar devices are mounted on the dashboards of unmarked police cars that move to different sites around the city.
The cameras proposed by Montgomery Police Chief Charles A. Moose would be much more conspicuous than Washington’s devices. Mounted on the back of vans and operated by county officers, the cameras would be used largely in residential areas and school zones.
Drivers would receive citations only if they exceed the speed limit by 5 mph or more in school zones and 15 mph on all other roads, Moose said. No penalty points would be given to drivers.
Montgomery hopes the cameras would cut down on pedestrian fatalities - 14 people were killed by vehicles last year in the county. In Washington, police say cameras cut the number of speeders by 16 percent during their first six months of use.
But the district’s contract with Affiliated Computer System, which paid for the cameras and processes tickets, has raised questions.
The company gets $29 for each citation paid, which critics say shows it is more interested in handing out tickets to make money than ensuring public safety.
The contract will likely change to a flat fee, according to Kevin Morison, a spokesman for district police. Montgomery would use a flat fee, Moose said.
Speeding cameras, along with red light cameras, have also raised the ire of libertarians who feel they are invasions of privacy. They include Sen. Alex Mooney, R-Frederick, who has introduced a bill that would outlaw red light cameras.
“You’d probably catch of lot of criminals if you put cameras in everybody’s house. It’s an invasion of privacy,” Mooney said.
But the sponsor of the Senate bill, Sen. Jennie Forehand, D-Montgomery, said the cameras just enforce laws already on the books. Public safety outweighs privacy concerns in this case, she said.
“I’m always concerned about civil liberties, but I’m also concerned about reducing accidents,” she said.