Stockton Police Quietly Ends Red-Light Camera Program, Citing Little Cost Or Safety Benefit
STOCKTON (CBS13) — Stockton's red-light cameras haven't caught any red-light runners since January, because the police department turned them off months ago.
The cameras were meant to stop accidents, but police say they didn't do that. Now, police want to go back to old-fashioned traffic enforcement.
Last year, the Stockton Police Department looked into the footage and the accidents to see how useful red-light cameras were to Stockton's streets. It turns out, not very much. Police found the cost of running the cameras and red-light running tickets weren't cost-neutral.
On top of that, the cameras were not stopping accidents from happening at several major intersections.
"So the department feels it'll be better served if we took the officer who is in the office reviewing the video footage of people running the red lights, and put him back on his motorcycle in those areas where we do see significant increases and have him do selective enforcement," Stockton Police spokesman Joe Silva said.
That selective enforcement means the officer will be back on patrol and writing citations to bad drivers.
Stockton Police turned off the cameras in February and terminated its contract with the red-light camera manufacturers.
The city of Stockton doesn't own the cameras. Stockton Police say it's up to the company behind them, Redflex, to come out and collect the cameras.
