If it's not about the money, one should be allowed to write the fine off on State Income Tax..

The County has to be able to get a better deal than paying $12,000 per month per camera and/or giving 81 cents-95 cents on the dollar to a private company. Perhaps that is the best they can get, but my thinking is that this is what happens when you don't bid contracts out which was the case with this particular contract.. The contract is up for renewal at the end of this year. Does anyone know how far along the County bidding process is for the new speed camera contract (when were bids solicited and due) and when the bids will be made public?

Coming soon to Baltimore County: speed cameras in places outside of school zones. Gotta make that money for ACS State and Local Solutions somehow. They have PR flacks and lobbyists to pay for.

Isn't that's the way it's suppose to work. No tickie no washie. Or in English, no speeding, no tickets, no money.

People just figure out where they are and slow down when they pass them and then just speed up afterwards.
I was in New Zealand a couple of months ago and they have the mobile cameras like we have in the construction zones. They randomly place them every day so you never know where they are. It's a lot more effective. If you get 2 tickets your license is toast.

I have been suggesting for the last year that if the goal TRULY is speed reduction, require that every camera flash a bright blue light that is visible far enough away that drivers going too fast could slow down and avoid a ticket. Then, when tickets from that location diminish, or if that location proves to produce few citations, just replace it with a fake one - an empty metal box that looks like the real thing. Those could be purchased for a very small sum, and the live, working cameras moved to new locations. Like the old shell game, the driving public would never know which cameras were real and which were decoys, and drivers would be reminded to check their speed when they saw a flashing blue light. This is really no different than the painted plywood cutouts of patrol cars that various jurisdictions used to use in strategic locations for the same reason.

Besides buying the favor of a company with a history of making large donations to the state Democrat party, what else could $2.3 million buy? A patrol officer making $50,000 is paid approximately $25 per hour. Overtime pay is time and half ($37.50 per hour). Two million, three hundred thousand dollars in fines would purchase 61,333 hours of police overtime. That would have allowed the county to pay for 8 hours of police overtime, for all 180 school days, in 42 school zones (nearly three times the number of schools with cameras). Let's see, are my kids safer attending a school with a camera that sends tickets out, two weeks after the infraction, to the registered owner of a car (not necessarily the offending driver) or are they safer attending a school that has a police officer present all school day deterring speeding and drug dealing and pedophiles?

People that drive fast will always do so... lets face it.. most people do not drive 25 in a 25 mph zone... the vast majority don't. People don't drive 30 in 30 zones.. ACS State and Local Solutions bank on these facts.
I would be more interested in seeing which political connection is neatly tied to this sweet arrangement for ACS. Its always about the money with these deals...in one way or the other... no bid contracts being awarded?? Sounds like something that the good ol boy Carroll County Commissioners would pull off!

Gee......They're NOT making money and NOT reducing accidents? Notice that they are being moved to 2 of the busiest roads in east Baltimore County? Mace ave, and Middle River road? Hmmmmmm............

"Of the money the county collected in the last 12 months, it kept slightly more than $107,000. It is not immediately clear if that covers the cost of the county employees who maintain the cameras."

So, the ~$12K per camera per month does NOT include vendor maintenance? Unbelievable. I'm much rather see the $2.2 Million spent on cameras be spent on speed bumps and similar traffic calming devices. At least that way the money would stay in the local economy by paying county workers or local contractors to install them.

The County doesnt need ACS, and the sooner they realize that, the more money the County can collect from violators. There are only 15-16 cameras at present. You can put rookie officers there in 6-month shifts during the hours of operation. There is a new officer class graduating every 6 months-1 year. No way that the monthly cost of a rookie officer is $12,000 per month (unless they make $144,000 per year inclusive of benefits and pension). That rookie officer can issue speeding tickets for less than the speed which triggers the cameras now, and they can, effective tomorrow, also stop drivers to issue texting citations. They can cite people for running stop signs and run warrant checks. Cameras cant do that. Rookie officers need experience stopping vehicles and while its not the most glamorous of jobs to be sure for 6 months, it provides actual experience which is the building block of future police work. The County could make a killing financially off of violators and truly protect the public safety (not just alter behavior). Cameras aren't protecting anyone in any way that the presence of an actual officer couldn't. They are throwing money away. They could collect that money, all of it, implement traffic calming devices and dedicate a portion of the proceeds to police department.

Steve, glad to hear you comments. You should be where Scott is. Where was he in all of the issues in the county is involved in like the PUD's that use taxpayer money like a slush fund.

Ya think the Thistle Landing wasn't a cooked deal? Steve hit em where it hurts. As the famous line goes, "The truth, they can't handle the truth!"

Steve ever wonder how many county vehicles were caught on those cameras? The numbers would astound you.

Everyone stop speeding. stop breaking the laws. stop killing kids walking across the street after school. stop speeding and driving crazy. deal with it. the cams are there because you people and your mothers fathers grandmothers grandfathers sisters brothers aunts cousins uncles sons and daughters cant do the speed limit in communities where little kids walk home from school and play.. who cares who is making money off it. who cares who isnt making money of it. WHO CARES - STOP SPEEDING AND STOP CRYING ABOUT IT.

So The county noticed a problem of speeding on certain roads, and over time the speeding has proved to decrease in these troubled areas and proved to be effective. But apparantly effectiveness is not the key here, so the county decides to move the camera's to catch more speeders in another area. hmmmmmm Now it will cost the county more money to dismantle and re-set up these camera's. I agree with the post earlier about why not pay a police officer to sit at a school all day. We are in the land of wasting money and we do it well.

most schools have an officer there already. name one middle school or high school that doesnt have one. then you have officers that are watching speeds but then your house gets broken into or some jerk robs a store or someone is beating someone else or someone is stabbed or hurt then your officer is called to that job away from the area of speeders. its all about people just doing the right thing. so many law breakers out there yet judges give them a little fine and send them out to do it again or worse. then back to court for another small fine. then back out again. its why crime goes up because people think they are above the law.

Walker, you are spot on. MVA is a revolving door of incompetence. I can't count the number of times I've locked up people driving on a revoked or suspended license.

It is the same issue across the board -- ACCOUNTABILITY!

When I was supervising the Alcohol Unit most of the cased that came across my desk were repeat offenders. The sad part was that the courts did nothing to hold these people accountable.

Some of them were brazen enough to drive to their DUI charge on a revoked license. Eventually we had to have surveillance on the parking lot of the court to stop this.

The slope is slippery when dealing with driving as a priviledge ... it seems to contradict our Constitutional right to travel freely and therefore is very difficult for any State to over enforce. The odds will catch up with the enforcers and eventually the system will be brought down by individual challenges... New York has already lost a number of these cases regarding the drivers license scam.
Buzz... If you participate in this stuff you should know how it came about..the real reasons..

Buck, it is a very controversial issue. Say for example the insurance one; if you were in an accident with one who had no insurance -- even with that there is a limit, how do you protect the innocent?

At what point do the rights of the individual take precedent over those of the masses. Who decides at what point is a person not capable of driving anymore?

I'm not quite sure of your comment of how this came about. I might have the knowledge you speak of, I'm just not sure of how your are framing the topic.