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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 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 device 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 crashes and traffic violations at intersections with red-light cameras have declined since the program started in October 2004 - at some intersections by 50 percent.

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

The decision to move some cameras and leave inoperable shells has not been finalized and most likely won't be in the near future, he said.

"This program is still considered 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 become a sore spot with many Duke City 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 netted by the program toward the state.