Colorado Springs police has announced that they will no longer be using cameras in order to help to capture images of red-light runners, despite the fact that this technique was praised only last week as having made the streets of the city notably safer.
Pete Carey, interim police chief of the city, used a 2012 budget work session for the Police Department to tell the City Council about the decision.
Carey said that it had not yet been determined whether or not the red light cameras had worked to reduce collisions at the four intersections in the city where they had been installed. He explained that the decision of the Police Department was to stop using the high-tech tools, but did also state that he had obtained “some input from the mayor’s office as well as the chief of staff.”
He went on to say that the Police Department has also decided not to continue its DUI checkpoint program. He said that they will be starting a new process that they hope will be more effective. It will consist of high visibility enforcement and saturation patrols. He clarified that it is not that the police will be withdrawing from DUI checks and enforcement, it is only that the checkpoints will no longer be continued.
Last week, city officials in Colorado Springs had released a report about the intersections with the cameras along with police officers, stating that they were effectively reducing the number of people who run red lights which could result in broadside collisions.
This document’s data showed that there had been a drop in violations in three out of the four intersections, within a year of the installation of the high def cameras that issue tickets. The cameras have been in place since October 16, 2010.
