Skinning the cat
Although not nearly as troubling as the infamous National Security Agency spying fiasco, police in Arlington, Va. are also struggling to respect citizen’s privacy, but not in the way you might expect.
The area uses BootFinder, a small, hand-held camera that scans license plates of parked cars to identify people with delinquent property-tax bills and unpaid parking tickets. But they also use the highly controversial red light camera to automatically ticket motorists who run a red light.
Why all the technology? When it comes to collecting revenue, Arlington is “always looking for new ways to skin the cat.” Those aren’t the words of a hysterical critic; they’re the words of Arlington County Treasurer Frank O’Leary. Technology like this made him ecstatic: “I rub my hands together in great glee and anticipation,” he said in a television interview. But it turns out those cameras might not be all that accurate.
Arlington-based lawyer Daniel M. Wemhoff tried to file a class-action suit against D.C., alleging that as many as 20,000 motorists were victimized by a faulty red light camera at the intersection of H and North Capitol streets.
In a case of reality-beats-fiction, the court dismissed the case because refunding motorists their money would violate their privacy.
2 Responses to “Skinning the cat”
We’ll make a libertarian of him yet, I tell you.
I’m opposed to fines as a “scheme” to raise money for a budget. Fines should be for the purpose of deterring law breaking. Similarly, traffic laws should be enacted to further public safety, not to raise money. Admittedly, money from fines has to go somewhere. But when the primary motivation for traffic laws becomes budget enhancement, instances of abuse are likely to go up.
I live near a town of 1,000 that once employed more than ten police officers and raised more than 80% of its budget through speeding fines. In Oklahoma, at that level your are by presumption an illegal “speed trap” and upon complaint must offer evidence as to why you aren’t.
Alas, this little town finally got so greedy that it failed to turn over to the state its half of ticket money (the state highway was the overwhelming source of tickets and revnue must be shared) and also failed to remit to the U.S. Treasury employment withholding. With all the fines and fees levied against them, the little town could no longer afford to pay to insure all their vehicles and pay the officers. Today, they have either no officers or now and then one.
It does not appear that there are any more wrecks now that the police force is gone. (The Oklahoma Highway Patrol is still around from time-to-time.)