The Maryland Senate is slated to vote on a bill that would enable contractors, rather than police officers, to validate speed camera tickets.
Supporters of the bill say it’s intended to save time and money for local jurisdictions and their police forces. The law would apply to all speed cameras, including those operated by the State Highway Administration.
Current state law requires that a trained law enforcement officer review and validate any photographic evidence of a speed camera violation before a driver can be ticketed.
Opponents say the bill would make it harder for drivers to contest a flawed ticket.
“Taking police out of the picture is foolish enough, and that alone should have been rejected,” Ron Ely, editor of the anti-speed-camera blog StopBigBrotherMd.org, wrote in an email. “But this also means private contractors can have the final say in who gets a ticket. That places the process outside the scope of the state’s open records laws and removes accountability by the government.”
Maryland counties and municipalities operate hundreds of speed cameras in school districts and work zones across the state. Each camera issues $40 tickets for drivers caught speeding 12 miles over the posted speed limit.
Some smaller jurisdictions in Maryland, including Gaithersburg, Rockville and Laurel, have complained about the costs of hiring a police officer — or taking one off the streets for a couple hours a day — to review the camera violations. The town of Brentwood, which had closed its police department to save money, re-established a one-man force for the sole purpose of reviewing tickets when town officials decided to invest in speed cameras.
Brentwood was later forced to refund all tickets issued during a two-week period in 2010 when it was discovered that the officer was signing off on violations while on paid leave. Current law does not permit an inactive officer to validate speed camera violations.
That would all change under the new bill, which the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee recently sent to the full chamber for a vote.
The Senate bill is co-sponsored be Sens. Jamie Raskin, D-Silver Spring, Jennie Forehand, D-Rockville, and James Rosapepe, D-Prince George’s and Anne Arundel counties.
A hearing on the House version of the bill is scheduled for March 9 before the Environmental Matters Committee.
