TriShield
01-14-2009, 10:38 PM
The lawman fighting the law
http://www.abc15.com/media/news/0/8/c/08cd1ab8-ea35-4c13-a4aa-a7926466133b/Story.jpg
Reported by: Steve Irvin
Email: sirvin@abc15.com
Last Update: 5:22 pm
There is an unwritten rule in law enforcement. You back up your fellow officers, even if they don't work for the same police department.
You don't just do it on the streets. You also do it in spirit, and more often than not... in policy.
Which makes Sheriff Paul Babeu that much more daring.
Babeu is the newly elected Sheriff in Pinal County and the first law enforcement officer in Arizona to voice his opposition to photo radar cameras, putting him in direct opposition to the Department of Public Safety.
He claims he's not alone.
"You'll find a lot of (police) chiefs who are against photo radar, but are afraid to speak out because of their position," Babeu told me Tuesday afternoon.
I don't know if he's right, but I do know he makes some good points.
Babeu says photo radar is sold as a safety measure, but he points out DPS has been willing to scale back its threshold for issuing a ticket... from six to seven miles over the speed limit, to eleven. With no points off your license, by the way.
If it's really a safety issue, why the wiggle room? And why not dock points along with the ticket?
Babeu sees it as a revenue shakedown, designed to swindle Arizona drivers out of more than 100 million dollars. By the way, do the math on this... at 165 dollars a ticket, the state is apparently projecting it will nail more than 600-thousand drivers during the course of the fiscal year. That's about ten percent of the state's overall population.
"It's turned into a Stalinist state," Babeu says.
He wants it put to a vote, and he was the first to put his name on a petition which is quickly swelling with signatures. It will likely wind up as a ballot measure.
That is, if it's not outlawed first.
District 6 representative Sam Crump will introduce legislation Wednesday to ban photo radar cameras on state highways.
One thing's for sure, lawmakers are likely to get an earful from their constituents, especially the nearly 75,000 and counting who've already been caught on camera.
http://www.abc15.com/content/news/blogs/story/Irvin-blog-How-1-Arizona-lawmaker-is-fighting/ZrBZ--frR0WhO2-MUGP-Jg.cspx
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Lawmakers propose ban on Ariz. highway speed cameras
Jan. 14, 2009 04:26 PM
Associated Press
State legislators on Wednesday proposed legislation to scuttle Arizona's groundbreaking program of using speed enforcement cameras on state highways.
The main sponsor, Republican Rep. Sam Crump of Anthem, said speed cameras are annoying, unfair, intrusive and even dangerous because of backups as motorists abruptly slow down near cameras.
“It's the No. 1 thing I'm hearing from constituents as well as people outside my district,” Crump said. “Arizona has a proud heritage of leaving its citizens alone to the greatest sense possible, and I find that the photo radar speed cameras are really a violation of that heritage.”
Passage would shut down a new Department of Public Safety program launched in September. A contractor has deployed 69 of 100 planned mobile and stationary cameras that are triggered by radar or other sensors.
The bill would ban both state or local cameras on state highways but not affect those used by municipalities or counties on local streets and roads.
Crump said the prohibition could take immediately upon the bill becoming effective. Or the shutdown could be done in stages by first slashing the fines to only the amount necessary to pay the contractor to satisfy any requirements in the two-year contract, he said.
Gov. Janet Napolitano, who initially proposed the first-in-the-nation statewide program in January 2007, has said the cameras are intended to improve highway safety but Crump said it's apparent the real motivation is ticket revenue.
A DPS spokesman, Lt. James Warriner, said Wednesday the agency takes no position on the bill but thinks the cameras improve highway safety.
With some cameras still not deployed, Warriner said the agency is studying possible deployment of cameras on an additional Phoenix-area freeway but also is awaiting word from the incoming administration of Arizona Secretary of State Jan Brewer whether she wants implementation of the program to continue.
For now, Warriner said, “We haven't been told that they're not going to do it,”
Brewer, who is expected to become governor next week upon the resignation of Gov. Janet Napolitano to become U.S. homeland security secretary, has not staked out a position on the camera program.
However, she told The Associated Press in a recent interview that she'd heard lots of complaints from Arizonans about the program.
Napolitano won authorization for the program in the state budget enacted last June over opposition by most majority Republican lawmakers.
The budget did not include anticipated revenue from citations issued under the program, but a November budget-balancing proposal by Napolitano included $50 million of anticipated revenue in the current fiscal year, which is now half over.
Introduction of the legislative bill by Crump and 11 other representatives follows the recent filings of two separate petitions for initiative measures proposed for the 2010 ballot. One would ban photo-enforcement citation except for violations of more than 20 mph. The other would ban photo-enforcement citations.
Citations issued under the DPS program carry a $165 fine plus a surcharge taking the total to approximately $185. Courts can costs to serve citations on motorists.
One of the bill sponsors, Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Gilbert, said motorists receiving mailed “notices of violation” generated by speed cameras can and should ignore them because they're under no legal obligation to pay at that point.
Only later, if a court issues an actual citation and it is served on the motorist is there a legal obligation to respond, Biggs said.
http://www.azcentral.com/community/westvalley/articles/2009/01/14/20090114speed-cameras0114-ON.html
http://www.abc15.com/media/news/0/8/c/08cd1ab8-ea35-4c13-a4aa-a7926466133b/Story.jpg
Reported by: Steve Irvin
Email: sirvin@abc15.com
Last Update: 5:22 pm
There is an unwritten rule in law enforcement. You back up your fellow officers, even if they don't work for the same police department.
You don't just do it on the streets. You also do it in spirit, and more often than not... in policy.
Which makes Sheriff Paul Babeu that much more daring.
Babeu is the newly elected Sheriff in Pinal County and the first law enforcement officer in Arizona to voice his opposition to photo radar cameras, putting him in direct opposition to the Department of Public Safety.
He claims he's not alone.
"You'll find a lot of (police) chiefs who are against photo radar, but are afraid to speak out because of their position," Babeu told me Tuesday afternoon.
I don't know if he's right, but I do know he makes some good points.
Babeu says photo radar is sold as a safety measure, but he points out DPS has been willing to scale back its threshold for issuing a ticket... from six to seven miles over the speed limit, to eleven. With no points off your license, by the way.
If it's really a safety issue, why the wiggle room? And why not dock points along with the ticket?
Babeu sees it as a revenue shakedown, designed to swindle Arizona drivers out of more than 100 million dollars. By the way, do the math on this... at 165 dollars a ticket, the state is apparently projecting it will nail more than 600-thousand drivers during the course of the fiscal year. That's about ten percent of the state's overall population.
"It's turned into a Stalinist state," Babeu says.
He wants it put to a vote, and he was the first to put his name on a petition which is quickly swelling with signatures. It will likely wind up as a ballot measure.
That is, if it's not outlawed first.
District 6 representative Sam Crump will introduce legislation Wednesday to ban photo radar cameras on state highways.
One thing's for sure, lawmakers are likely to get an earful from their constituents, especially the nearly 75,000 and counting who've already been caught on camera.
http://www.abc15.com/content/news/blogs/story/Irvin-blog-How-1-Arizona-lawmaker-is-fighting/ZrBZ--frR0WhO2-MUGP-Jg.cspx
------
Lawmakers propose ban on Ariz. highway speed cameras
Jan. 14, 2009 04:26 PM
Associated Press
State legislators on Wednesday proposed legislation to scuttle Arizona's groundbreaking program of using speed enforcement cameras on state highways.
The main sponsor, Republican Rep. Sam Crump of Anthem, said speed cameras are annoying, unfair, intrusive and even dangerous because of backups as motorists abruptly slow down near cameras.
“It's the No. 1 thing I'm hearing from constituents as well as people outside my district,” Crump said. “Arizona has a proud heritage of leaving its citizens alone to the greatest sense possible, and I find that the photo radar speed cameras are really a violation of that heritage.”
Passage would shut down a new Department of Public Safety program launched in September. A contractor has deployed 69 of 100 planned mobile and stationary cameras that are triggered by radar or other sensors.
The bill would ban both state or local cameras on state highways but not affect those used by municipalities or counties on local streets and roads.
Crump said the prohibition could take immediately upon the bill becoming effective. Or the shutdown could be done in stages by first slashing the fines to only the amount necessary to pay the contractor to satisfy any requirements in the two-year contract, he said.
Gov. Janet Napolitano, who initially proposed the first-in-the-nation statewide program in January 2007, has said the cameras are intended to improve highway safety but Crump said it's apparent the real motivation is ticket revenue.
A DPS spokesman, Lt. James Warriner, said Wednesday the agency takes no position on the bill but thinks the cameras improve highway safety.
With some cameras still not deployed, Warriner said the agency is studying possible deployment of cameras on an additional Phoenix-area freeway but also is awaiting word from the incoming administration of Arizona Secretary of State Jan Brewer whether she wants implementation of the program to continue.
For now, Warriner said, “We haven't been told that they're not going to do it,”
Brewer, who is expected to become governor next week upon the resignation of Gov. Janet Napolitano to become U.S. homeland security secretary, has not staked out a position on the camera program.
However, she told The Associated Press in a recent interview that she'd heard lots of complaints from Arizonans about the program.
Napolitano won authorization for the program in the state budget enacted last June over opposition by most majority Republican lawmakers.
The budget did not include anticipated revenue from citations issued under the program, but a November budget-balancing proposal by Napolitano included $50 million of anticipated revenue in the current fiscal year, which is now half over.
Introduction of the legislative bill by Crump and 11 other representatives follows the recent filings of two separate petitions for initiative measures proposed for the 2010 ballot. One would ban photo-enforcement citation except for violations of more than 20 mph. The other would ban photo-enforcement citations.
Citations issued under the DPS program carry a $165 fine plus a surcharge taking the total to approximately $185. Courts can costs to serve citations on motorists.
One of the bill sponsors, Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Gilbert, said motorists receiving mailed “notices of violation” generated by speed cameras can and should ignore them because they're under no legal obligation to pay at that point.
Only later, if a court issues an actual citation and it is served on the motorist is there a legal obligation to respond, Biggs said.
http://www.azcentral.com/community/westvalley/articles/2009/01/14/20090114speed-cameras0114-ON.html