On photo radar, misuse is abuse
Back in January of 2013, I wrote about what I believed to be the overstaffing of the Medicine Hat Police Service. In November of 2014, I wrote about our photo radar program and the fact that it was paying for about 10 per cent of our police force. I also pointed out that the program was being run as a cash cow and not a safety enforcement program. In July of 2015, my column expressed concern about the fact that our police commission and the city council were in collusion with the chief of police to create speed traps and unfair conditions for motorists to be caught and forced to pay fines to enhance the revenue for the MHPS. I also pointed out the review that the city conducted at the time was a case of the fox guarding the hen house or as I put it at the time, it was a review of a drug problem by the drug addicts. Predictably, that review changed nothing.
There was a time when all of the money went to the enforcement jurisdiction but it appears now that the province too, has their hand in the jar. You can trust your government not to let a good means of revenue pass them by. Now the provincial government has decided to review the issue as well and hopefully this time the review will have some credibility. During my career, I ran a successful photo radar program in Fort McMurray for four years. During that time, there was one unfounded public complaint about the way the program was run. The program was geared toward safety and reducing speeding. There was a relatively small amount of revenue after paying the cost of the program and that never became a part of the policing budget.
Chief of Police Andy McGrogan says that he is not fear mongering but that if the photo radar revenue is lost, implies that there will have to be a rise in taxes or a reduction of policing. Chief McGrogan and his predecessors, through collusion with the police commission and the councils over the years, have created this dependence on the revenue and padded the staffing levels of the police department. It also occurs to me that the chief’s job should be to run the department in the most efficient and frugal means possible and as a department head, be a guardian of the taxpayers money. It is his job to provide a policing service with the money council gives him. We elect council to fund each department and the chief is way out of line by publicly commenting on a matter that is totally the purview of the elected representatives of this province and the city.
The chief serves at the pleasure of the Mayor and council much like the director of the FBI serves at the pleasure of the U.S. president. Comey of course was fired for overstepping his mandate and commenting on matters that were beyond his authority.
Chief McGrogan has repeatedly defended the current level of use of photo radar largely because about 10 per cent of his staff rely on that revenue for their salary. Many jurisdictions use photo radar revenues to enhance community initiatives like public safety programs, victim services or volunteer organizations. It is clearly a conflict of interest when people who carry guns must go out on the street to find ways of getting money from citizens in order to pay their own wages.
Photo radar can be an excellent enforcement tool. Unfortunately, politicians and empire builders see it as a means of revenue to fund their desires. A program that focuses on reducing speed in construction zones, high collision areas and school zones, while ensuring that offenders feel that they are treated fairly will always have support. It is because many jurisdictions abuse the system to enhance budgets that the credibility of the program is compromised.
Medicine Hat still has many areas where the speed limits are artificially low. Calgary and Medicine Hat chose to turn all school zones into playground zones effectively creating 30 km/h speeds zones where none are required and at times of the day when they are not necessary. In most cases, this is more about the revenue than the safety. Greed is a wonderful thing.
Paul McLennan moved to Alberta more than 20 years ago as a member of the RCMP. He remained in Alberta after retirement in 2002, taught driving part time and settled in Medicine Hat in 2011.