HikeArizona.COM

I got a ticket in the mail yesterday. Here is the "evidence" against me. If I were doing 79 in the 65 as claimed, I would have been in the trunk of the car in front of me. I am car #2 behind the truck. A car from Colorado is passing me, and he may have been going 79, but I don't know. If he was, it looks like I got his ticket.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HH3NTQrE12k

AZDPS and Redflex are clearly lying about the quality control they claim to do, and they have no problems sending a ticket to an innocent victim to help tighten the budget problem and fatten the corporate profits. If they looked at the videos as they claim to do, I never would have gotten this.

Something tells me I am not the first person to whom this has happened. Is anyone interested in starting a class action lawsuit against a company which gathers evidence for the state without a private investigators license, and has profit as its motive behind "law enforcement"?

@hikeaz - Great! I got a ticket the last time I was in El Mirage which I promptly ignored.

The ex-wife of a school bus camera company CEO will be held accountable for her alleged role in ripping off taxpayers in Dallas, Texas. County Judge Eric Moye on Friday ruled that Margaret Leonard will have to turn over evidence to the committee charged with clawing back some of the $185 million lost as a result of the stop arm camera scandal that took down Dallas County Schools (DCS).

Checks in her name were written to DCS president Larry Duncan, who admitted taking bribes. She gave $5000 to state Representative Ramon Romero (D-Fort Worth), $7000 to California secretary of state Alex Padilla (D) and $5000 to Louisiana governor John Bel Edwards (D). In an April 6, 2015, email, Duncan told Robert Leonard how much campaign cash was expected in each Dallas city council race. Linda Leonard's signature is on $1000 checks for each name listed.
"Please make all checks out to the candidate's name plus the word 'campaign,'" Duncan wrote. "Individual campaign contribution limit is $1000... We discussed the following amounts."

The email lists $3000 for unopposed city council candidates Adam Medrano, Scott Griggs and Philip T. Kingston. Candidates in contested races would receive $5000, including Tiffani A. Young, Mark Clayton, Gail Terrell, Carolyn King Arnold and Joe Tave. Duncan then added $3000 for Monica R. Alonzo and $5000 for Sherry Cordova.

"I simply overlooked Alonzo when we last talked," Duncan wrote. "She is a friend and would be hurt if we left her out and she found out about the others."

Even though Margaret Leonard did not work for Force Multiplier, the company paid the mortgage on her $1.6 million "resort like estate" on Royal Lane in Dallas . She also received over $50,000 in payments from the company over two months. Shortly after Margaret Leonard filed for divorce on November 8, 2017, many of Robert Leonard's assets were transferred into her name. Harbin argued the divorce was a ploy to shield those assets.

As a resident of Louisiana, Margaret Leonard insists the Texas court has no jurisdiction over her. She also says the campaign checks signed in her name were not authorized.

"I didn't write this check," Margaret Leonard explained in a deposition earlier this month. "That's not my handwriting." Akin to.. "I did NOT have sex with that woman" (Good 'ol Bill)

The primary purpose of Dallas County Schools was operating the school bus service, but it decided to pay $25 million to Force Multiplier for the exclusive right to market and sell school bus cameras to other Texas school districts. The scheme failed to make the promised return, and debt spiraled out of control.
DCS and Leonard cooked up a complicated real estate deal to raise funds, which only drove DCS deeper in debt. I
nvestigative journalists at KXAS-TV exposed the plot after noticing the campaign cash flowing from Force Multiplier to camera boosters on the council.

Massachusetts: (Scummy) Ticket Quota Cop Wants To Avoid Jail Time



Daren DeJong...A former Massachusetts state trooper who admitted he ripped off federal taxpayers (lied) and issued bogus speeding tickets (stole) is now begging a US District Court judge for leniency. Daren DeJong, 57, took home a net salary of $179,971 in 2016 thanks in part to the overtime cash he collected on a federally funded speed trap detail on Interstate 90, which runs from the border with New York to Boston Harbor.

DeJong's downfall came when he accepted the $16,000 bonus from a US Department of Transportation-funded program without fulfilling the federal ticket quota. Both the Accident and Injury Reduction Effort (AIRE - aka SCAM) program and the X-Team program mandated the issuance of predetermined numbers of citations to qualify for the overtime payment (This is illegal) . DeJong did not actually work the ticketing shifts that he claimed. Instead, he cooked the books and went home early, as did forty of his trooper colleagues.

"Troopers were expected to issue a minimum of eight to ten citations for each AIRE shift and twelve to fifteen citations for each X-Team shift," assistant US attorney Mark Grady wrote. "Any failure to issue the required number of citations drew negative scrutiny from supervisors and command staff."

During what was supposed to be an eight hour shift on patrol, the troopers would rush to get all the required tickets issued in an hour so they could go home. If the weather was bad, making it hard to issue speeding tickets, they would just go home without writing any tickets with the supervisors marking the troopers as "redeployed."

"Because Massachusetts State Police required that Troopers working the AIRE (SCAM) and X-Team overtime shifts generate citations, DeJong created bogus citations in order to claim hours that he had not worked," Grady wrote. "An hour or more before the end of his regular shift, DeJong would stop individuals, and/or run driver's histories, and would create bogus citations which he would then claim had been written during the AIRE (SCAM) overtime shift."

Investigators used radio logs and computer records to confirm that DeJong was not working when he claimed to be on the job. Federal prosecutors want DeJong to spend six months behind bars for embezzlement, which would be the stiffest punishment issued to members of Troop E. Thus far, a judge has imposed a three month sentence on Trooper Gregory Raftery and a single day behind bars for Trooper Eric Chin. DeJong admitted his guilt and now is asking the judge to impose a sentence of home confinement for six months, instead of a prison sentence.

"The fact that the acts he committed were done within the context of a rigorously enforced citation quota system also suggest they were unlikely motivated by greed," DeJong attorney Bradford Bailey wrote. "The incidents outlined above amply demonstrate that DeJong sacrificed much, and otherwise performed his duties admirably, over the course of his long career."

Never seen the gub'ment fight so hard for citizens' 'safety'.... Eight $MILLION collected from a city of just 15,000.


Florida's auditor general has caught a city misusing red light camera cash and other funds belonging to the state. According to a report released on June 28, Opa-Locka, a city of 15,000 in Miami-Dade County, the mismanagement was so bad that state agencies began withholding $1.2 million from the city for its failure to comply with financial reporting requirements.

Opa-Locka gave American Traffic Solutions (now Verra Mobility) the right to set up eight red light cameras to issue fully automated citations worth $158 each. Under state law, the city is supposed to transmit $83 from each ticket to the state Department of Revenue. Those payments are supposed to be made on a weekly basis, but the audit found this was not happening. Over eight years, Opa-Locka's for-profit vendor gave the city $8.1 million in revenue, of which $4.2 million was supposed to be turned over to the state. The city only handed over $1.2 million, leaving a $3 million shortfall.

"In response to our inquiry, city personnel indicated they did not know why former city personnel did not make the required weekly transfers to the Department of Revenue during the period June 2013 through July 2018," the audit report stated. "Without prompt remittance of proceeds to the Department of Revenue from traffic signal penalties, the associated state funds are deprived of these revenues and unable to use the proceeds for their intended purposes."

Opa-Locka was also caught improperly handing out automobiles to the mayor and all four city commissioners. The city (TAXPAYERS) also paid for a car, including full coverage insurance and tolls, for the city manager. This is a problem, since the city was obligated to report the value of any personal use of the cars to the Internal Revenue Service because it is a form of taxable income; which of course they could not, as they received the vehicles as bribes. The commissioners' cars were leased at a monthly cost of $1179.

Why do gub'ment workers need to be bribed if they are merely ensuring citizens' safety? Hmmm

Opa-Locka's finances were so dire that the city was declared to be in a financial emergency in 2016. A state oversight board was put in place to oversee operations.

The scandal-plagued school bus stop-arm camera industry (that has been convicted of dispensing hundreds of millions of dollars in bribe money) has a new ally in Washington -- US Senate minority leader Charles E. Schumer. The New York Democrat last week said turning the nation's school buses into ticketing platforms is "an issue of the utmost importance." Schumer wrote National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) acting administrator James C. Owens, urging him to release a report promoting the use of automated ticketing machines. Schumer is also asking the agency to direct federal grant cash to the private companies that install the devices.

Of note: School bus drivers caused 76 percent of fatalities involving a school bus from 1983 to 2017 (How about improving driver's competence? - Oh, wait.. there's no money in it, just saving lives). And....Since 1983, the average number of fatal accidents caused by passing motorists has declined from 2.3 per year to just 0.2 per year (That is 2/10ths) - and that was WITHOUT school bus surveillance cameras. 'Utmost importance'? ( Remember.... the vast majority of school buses do not even have SEATBELTS! )

Illinois motorists who receive a ticket in the mail may not have to worry as much about paying them. Citing widespread corruption in the automated ticketing industry, state Comptroller Susana A. Mendoza on Monday announced she would cut off the ability of municipalities to use the state to help enforce collection of $100 red light camera tickets by virtue of withholding state tax refunds. The change would take effect February 6.
"As a matter of public policy, this system is clearly broken," Mendoza said in a statement. "I am exercising the moral authority to prevent state resources being used to assist a shady process that victimizes taxpayers. This kind of arrangement stinks -- it's plain rotten," Mendoza said. "It exploits taxpayers and especially those who struggle to pay the fines imposed, often the working poor and communities of color. We can't continue the practice of municipal employees directly pocketing cash from contracts they arrange."
Local governments can still send the names of motorists to debt collectors, but under a 2015 legal settlement in effect nationwide, unpaid tickets may not be used to affect credit ratings. This leaves few realistic options for the Chicago suburbs.
"I think it's critical that the state's collection mechanisms should not be hijacked by political insiders to profit from an enforcement system whose integrity is now being seriously questioned," the comptroller explained."

As much as we all love Massachusetts, Florida, and Illinois ... how is it that this thread completely missed all the hoopla about PHOENIX pulling the plug on redflex last week?

I've been boycotting Scottsdale for over two and a half years over this nonsense. I think at this point they've actually lost revenue over that BS ticket.

@ShatteredArm
I've lived mostly in Arizona for 33 years, lived, camped and hiked all over the state, and have never been to Scottsdale. I guess I can keep avoiding it for awhile.

chumley wrote:As much as we all love Massachusetts, Florida, and Illinois ... how is it that this thread completely missed all the hoopla about PHOENIX pulling the plug on redflex last week?

The only interesting thing ever posted in this thread.

Since we drive PV/Scottsdale 6 days a week, we have them both down. Interestingly I've never figured out why PV and Scottsdale now have to have yellow signs a couple of hundred feet before their camera vans. If you get snapped now maybe you should rethink your driving skills. On a side note when Scottsdale puts their van at Camelback and 66th it only takes a couple of days before all the tires are flat.

Alston_Neal wrote: ↑Jan 08 2020 10:40 am ........ On a side note when Scottsdale puts their van at Camelback and 66th it only takes a couple of days before all the tires are flat.

In Europe the local vigilantes do a NUMBER on their speed vans as well as fixed surveillance cameras. Of course it's akin to whack-a-mole as there are so many.

Alston_Neal wrote: ↑Jan 08 2020 10:40 amI've never figured out why PV and Scottsdale now have to have yellow signs a couple of hundred feet before their camera vans.

I believe state law requires TWO signs ahead of any photo enforcement. Indeed, the temporary signs make the vans pretty tough to miss (except of course when you're looking at your phone). But you'll see them ahead of intersections with permanent red light cameras too. If it's not a state law, it's one that most of the municipalities in the valley have enacted.

In Chandler however, the signs indicate only that photo enforcement exists. It does not specify if the red light camera is also a speed camera (some are), so if you gun it to beat the light, sometimes you can get a nice portrait in the mail for excessive speed instead.

@chumley
Chums, our own personal Answer Man.

chumley wrote: ↑Jan 08 2020 11:04 am
I believe state law requires TWO signs ahead of any photo enforcement. Indeed, the temporary signs make the vans pretty tough to miss (except of course when you're looking at your phone). But you'll see them ahead of intersections with permanent red light cameras too. If it's not a state law, it's one that most of the municipalities in the valley have enacted.....

Interestingly ( to some), the law requires the sign to be posted at a height of at least 7 feet if permanent and at least 5 feet if temporary. The border must be the same color as the legend and reside at or just inside the edge of the sign. The letters must be at least 8 inches high, and the sign should be placed on the right side of the roadway. The sign also must be reflect light and be visible at night.
I am also anti-Scottsdale, but wonder if the 'sandwich-board' signs preceding the vans reach 5'.
One sign needs to be in a location that is approximately three hundred feet before the photo enforcement system. Placement of additional signs shall be more than three hundred feet before a photo enforcement system

1/28/20
Innocent motorists received tickets in the mail from the private speed camera vendors operating in New Orleans, Louisiana, according to a report issued Thursday by the city's inspector general. A review of the lucrative program found widespread mismanagement that allowed the municipality to improperly keep over $730,000 in fines, largely because of the lack of oversight.
According to the report, the city "relied heavily" on American Traffic Solutions (ATS, now known as Verra Mobility) to run every aspect of the program, "ineffectively" overseeing the for-profit company's actions.
"This lack of management contributed to the erroneous issuance of citations, inadequate processes to ensure refunds to drivers for overpayments on traffic camera citations, and a failure to identify and correct problems within the program," the report explained.

ATS issued tickets in school zones when school was not in session, contrary to the law. It also issued "school zone" tickets in areas where the school itself had moved location or closed. The company also issued tickets more than thirty days after the vehicle owner was identified, again in violation of the law. When New Orleans police "reviewed" citations, they did not bother watching the twelve-second videos of alleged incidents supplied by ATS. Instead, they hit the "convict" button after less than ten seconds a majority of the time and in less than five seconds one out of four times.

This process was used to issue 402,783 automated tickets worth up to $205 each to generate $24 million in revenue in 2017.

Companies that directly profit from the issuance of speeding tickets are offering cash to state agencies that come up with innovative marketing campaigns in support of the citation blitzes. The Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) and Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) announced they would pay an unspecified number of state and local agencies up to $200,000 each for qualifying "speed management pilot project" proposals submitted before March 1.
IIHS is the insurance industry's public relations arm. On average, insurance companies collect an extra $1000 in net revenue from each speeding ticket issued by police. Under state laws, insurers like AAA, Geico, State Farm and USAA can raise the annual automobile insurance premiums on drivers who acquire points against their license from moving violations. As the companies do not provide any additional services to point recipients, the extra revenue is pure profit for the industry -- profit measured in the billions of dollars. To protect revenue, IIHS member companies have been caught bribing officials, including judges.
GHSA's members include the government officials whose funding depends on steady revenue from speeding tickets, along with groups like the National Coalition for Safer Roads, which is a front group wholly controlled by the photo radar firm American Traffic Solutions (now Verra Mobility). The National Coalition for Safer Roads is listed as one of the entities that helped develop the grant program in an April summit held in Virginia.

So... bribes wearing a 'grant' hat are ???

Notably missing is any discussion about 'SAFETY'...

Red light cameras will go dark in Encinitas, California later today. After a 3 to 2 city council vote last week, the San Diego County beach town decided to join the more than sixty California jurisdictions that have terminated their experiment with the use of red light cameras. Encinitas officials faced the prospect of new guidelines requiring longer yellow times for turn movements that would turn the program from a money-winner to a money-loser, allowing the council's camera opponents to win the day. The vast majority of violations were for left turn arrow violations, not 'true' red-light-running, per se. (Citation was $499!)
The Safer Streets LA report also noted that there were barely any red light related collisions before the cameras were installed, and the number of accidents did not change after the devices were installed.
('But, dang.... look at all the money!')

Sixth Felony Plea Entered In School Bus Camera Bribery Scandal
Louisiana attorney Richard Reynolds became the latest to join the growing list of photo enforcement felons after he entered a guilty plea in the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas to the charge of 'misprison of a felony'.
Misprison of a felony refers to the crime of someone actively conceals a criminal conspiracy and fails to report it to authorities. Reynolds helped school bus stop-arm camera operator Force Multiplier Systems bribe politicians and public officials in return for their endorsement of the lucrative technology. Reynolds used his legal skills to hide (well, maybe not) over $800,000 in bribe payments from Force Multiplier CEO Robert Carl Leonard Jr to Ricky Dale Sorrells, the superintendent of Dallas County Schools. In return for the cash, Sorrells ensured that his agency approved the $70 million bus camera contract with Force Multiplier that ultimately bankrupted the Dallas County Schools.
Reynolds admitted his role was to "make it appear as if Leonard and Force Multiplier Solutions were not paying a public official with whom they were doing business." Reynolds set up shell companies that paid Sorrells "consulting" fees, though Sorrells performed no such work.

It's the same story over and over again. A few dollars to the right people buys a license to print money.