What’s good for the goose is good for the gander
Red light cameras. Some hate them … others praise.
This report comes from Cedar Rapids, IA.
Cedar Rapids Police Chief Greg Graham reports that the enforcement cameras had snapped photos of 26 Cedar Rapids police cars speeding or running red lights as of last week.
No, these photos don’t immediately end up being tossed aside, the chief says.
Upon review, Graham reports:
Five of the potential violations were deemed not to be violations; officers were operating in “legitimate” fashion. For instance, they were tailing a speeder at the speeder’s speed.
However, in six other instances, officers were issued letters of discipline because they did not have their patrol car’s lights and sirens operating as they should have when they were speeding to a call. Fifteen potential violations are still under review.
Cedar Rapids officers, Graham said, will get tickets in instances in which they should not have been speeding or running red lights. “Every one of the officers has been told that by me,” the chief said.
Other law enforcement agencies aren’t getting off the hook either.
In Marion, Police Chief Harry Daugherty reports that the Cedar Rapids Police Department has forwarded seven possible camera violations by Marion police officers to him for review.
In four of the seven, officers had a reason to be hustling. In three, the Marion officers have been issued citations, which they must pay, Daugherty says.
Typically, he says, Marion officers are in Cedar Rapids delivering arrested suspects to the Linn County Jail in downtown Cedar Rapids. Often the officers need to hurry back to Marion for calls. In the three instances in which officers are getting tickets, “nothing big was going on,” Daugherty said.
A number of years ago I witnessed a police car run a red light. I followed it back to the station and asked the officer if he was going to write himself a ticket. He denied running the light. I wish I would have had a picture of it.
Smile!
This entry was posted on Thursday, July 1st, 2010 at 3:21 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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