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Time could squelch the red-light rancor

By Peter Rice
Tuesday, May 8, 2007

Smart Box

Red light, green light

The City Council is considering no fewer than five minor tweaks or major changes for the red-light camera program, most of which are still on the assembly line awaiting final passage.

Proposals to lower the fines, add a community service option, reduce late fees, stop expansion of the camera program and create an independent office to hear the cases were tabled Monday and should be taken up at the next meeting, on May 21.

Most of the debate centers on the fine for the first offense, with some councilors arguing for as little as $50 and others wanting to keep it at the current $100. Points of contention include the ability of area residents to pay, how much money would serve as a deterrent, and how much a driver would pay if cited by an Albuquerque police officer for the same offense.

The only piece of red-light business that councilors disposed of Monday was a proposal from Councilor Don Harris to conduct an audit of the program. It failed on a 5-4 vote, with opponents arguing that the state, not the city, should pay for such an investigation.

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The hubbub around red-light cameras rages now and will probably last another two years or so if Albuquerque follows the pattern of other cities, but the controversy eventually will go away, Albuquerque Police Chief Ray Schultz said Monday.

Sitting in a back-row seat in the City Council chambers as councilors put off major action on five proposals for modifying the program, Schultz took the long view.

"Every city, when it first goes in, they make a big deal out of it," he said.

But eventually, people get used to the cameras, and they sometimes start demanding more, Schultz said.

How long does the cycle of grief run?

"Three years," he said.

And while the program started in 2005, it only covered two intersections at first. The city hit its goal of reaching 20 intersections last month, so it's not clear when the clock started.

Schultz drew a parallel to school resource officers, the police assigned to city high schools and some middle schools. They proved controversial at first, but "now you try to take an SRO out of a school and people go crazy."

But skeptics don't need to take Schultz's view of the program's ultimate acceptance.

The city of Poway, Calif., just north of San Diego, installed cameras at major intersections in the mid-1990s, said Steve Dreyer, executive editor of the Pomerado Newspaper Group, which publishes three papers in the area.

"There was a lot of grumbling," he said. Eventually, the city fired the private company that ran the cameras for performance reasons, and the automated eyes came down.

In May of 2005, the city hired Red Flex, which also manages Albuquerque's cameras, to give the idea another shot, Dreyer said.

Poway motorists pay $351 for the first offense, $251 more than in Albuquerque.

Dreyer said Poway citizens seem to have taken the new cameras and the hefty fines in stride.

"Maybe an occasional letter to the editor," he said. "You won't find too many people in town who think it's a bad idea."