Put red light camera companies under the microscope

I’ve read the Sun-Times’ reporting over and over and over again, pointing out that corruption in the Chicagoland suburbs abounds, spurred by the oh-so-irresistible temptation of the revenue promised by the companies that hawk red light cameras.

I recall the reporting in 2017 that “[u]nder its deals with Chicago suburbs, [SafeSpeed] gets nearly 40% of the money from tickets issued by its cameras.” Then in 2019, it was reported that SafeSpeed was under federal investigation but that it had not been charged with wrongdoing.

I am also familiar with an addition to the Illinois Vehicle Code that the Legislature made when it first allowed automated red light cameras into our state. It reads: “The compensation paid for an automated traffic law enforcement system must be based on the value of the equipment or the services provided and may not be based on the number of traffic citations issued or the revenue generated by the system.”

Knowing all the above, I can’t help but wonder: If a company is (or was) getting a “percent of the money from tickets issued by its cameras,” was it getting compensated “based on the number of traffic citations issued or the revenue generated by the system”— something our state law would seem to prohibit? If one company was getting compensated this way, what about the others?

While the feds can (and clearly will) investigate corruption, only Illinois state officials can investigate violations of state law. I call on Attorney General Kwame Raoul to investigate the manner of compensation of red light camera companies throughout the Chicagoland suburbs and Illinois for compliance with state law.

Ari Weiner, New East Side