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The prospect of a red-light camera catching you in the act might soon be just an empty threat.

The city and the Albuquerque Police Department are discussing shutting down the red-light camera operations at some of the most successful intersections but leaving the apparatus in place - thus making it appear as if the devices were still in operation.

"We are coming to a point in the program where you evaluate," police spokesman John Walsh said. "Our citizens have been extraordinarily responsive."

Walsh said the number of crashes and traffic violations at intersections with visible red-light cameras have declined since the start of the program in October 2004.

Since the program's inception, some of the first of the city's 16 watched intersections have seen the number of crashes cut in half, Walsh said. He added that the number of red-light violations issued to drivers whose vehicle license plates were captured on the cameras has also decreased as much as 50 percent at some intersections.

These drops show the message of safer driving has been sent and received at the red-light camera intersections, Walsh said.

Walsh said the decision to move cameras and leave inoperable shells of others has not been finalized and most likely won't be in the near future.

"This program is still considered an an infant program," Walsh said. "But we have always talked about us coming to a point where we move on to another intersection."

He said if new intersections are selected, the old intersection cameras will be turned off, not dismantled.

"That way, if the problem begins to increase, you can immediately turn it back on," Walsh said.

The red-light cameras have became a sore spot with many drivers, and the issue became a key topic at the Legislature. A bill on Gov. Bill Richardson's desk would divert some of the millions of dollars culled from the program toward the state.