Police Objecting to Tickets From Red-Light Cameras

caffiend666 writes "According to a Dallas Morning News article, any 'Dallas police officer in a marked squad car who is captured on the city's cameras running a red light will have to pay the $75 fine if the incident doesn't comply with state law ... Many police officers are angry about the proposed policy. The prevailing belief among officers has been that they can run red lights as they see fit.' Is this a case for or against governments relying on un-biased automated systems? Or, should anyone be able to control who is recorded on camera and who is held accountable?"

Comments

Re:The police ought to follow the law.

[bahwi]

All emergency vehicles have, _under the law_, the ability to speed and run lights under emergency conditions(specifically, lights on). So yes, firetrucks running red lights in a non emergency situation is actually very dangerous due to the length of the vehicle, so yes, ticket them! Police are typically cleared 5-10mph for speeding and anything above that must meet a few conditions, typically either having it pre-approved over the radio, or the emergency lights must be on. Same goes for running lights.

Police response times

[Kenrod]

If I hear a suspicious noise at night, I don't want a cop to stop and wait for every light to turn green on the way to my neighborhood because he doesn't want a ticket, or doesn't want to do the paperwork it would take to get out of the ticket...The cop needs to get there as quickly and safely as possible and shouldn't have other things on his mind.