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Winnipeg Police Confirm Photo Enforcement Isn't Safer

Projected ticket estimates and plans to lobby government against restrictions suggest the program is no longer about safety!

November 14,2008

The Winnipeg Police Service recently announced the goals it wishes to achieve with their photo enforcement program. One key goal according to traffic Staff Sgt. Mark Hodgson is to lobby the Provincial Government to lift restrictions on the locations Mobile Photo Radar Vehicles are allowed to set up in.

Currently the vehicles are only allowed to run radar in designated school, playground and construction zones. However the Police Service wants the ability to be able to utilize them in high collision areas and where the most complaints of high speeds are made.

In a recent Free Press Article Hodgson makes the argument that if the mobile units can be deployed to these areas it frees up traffic officers to focus on things like impaired drivers. He is quoted as saying "This is all about safety as far as the police are concerned."

To help them to justify loosening the law on photo radar, WPS recently hired an Ontario company to study Winnipeg's program. The study by the Traffic Injury Research Foundation during the next few months will form part of the lobby effort by police to show that six years of photo enforcement has made streets safer.

However the number of tickets (723,250 or 144,650 yr/avg) estimated to be issued over the 5 year contract appear to contradict this. This number suggests that the amount of tickets are expected to rise. It is also unclear if the projections include tickets generated from diamond lane cameras which will also need approval.

To date the highest amount of tickets issued in any one year was 2003 at 179,242. That year the city made $1,958,106 after expenses. In 2004 the city ran a deficit of $-155,840 even though they issued 137,972 tickets. This was due mostly to a poorly negotiated contract that saw ACS (Affiliated Computer Services) make their $6 Million yearly regardless of amount of tickets issued.

The City then had to resort to lowering the speed threshold on the cameras and ask for higher fines so they could generate revenue. They scrape by while to date ACS has made close to $40 million dollars while only employing 13 people locally. So where is that money from our local economy going to???

According to the article a Provincial Spokesman advised the government would be open to suggestions as long as a case can be made that it will improve public safety. A spokesperson for the Opposition leader echoed this saying it should be about safety and not revenue.

Hodgson feels it shouldn't be a problem to be make their case.

Yet even the Free Press article has the Police contradicting themselves on the programs effectiveness. On one hand Hodgson raves that the program has been an overwhelming success over the last six years and quotes the 2006 figure of 70,051 tickets issued (mobile units only), but then later in the article says they need to move their deployments because people are recognizing the vehicles and know the set up zones. Motorists look for them way ahead and slow down as they pass, then speed up again.

Therefore the program is not changing driver behavior or making the streets safer and at the end of the day they are still only taking a photo of a speeding vehicle going through the set up. It is only a matter of time before someone is seriously injured or killed because of this method of enforcement which not only allows the offence to occur it also allows the offender to continue speeding past a crossing guard, construction worker etc. and then can't identify the driver.

So...Are Winnipeg's streets safer?

In an upcoming special report trafficticketguru will reveal information that shows the program is about revenue and has nothing to do with safety. Their own statistics show that once the ticket numbers continued to decrease, they have added more units and became more aggressive by setting up close to speed zone changes, removing decals etc, to try and gain more revenue.

They want to be able to move around because they can only fool people so many times before they start to slow in those areas. The City will not even test other methods of making streets or special zones safer that do not include a revenue aspect. Even though these methods are shown to work. This also includes amber light timings.

The fact that the city and the police are the only ones who will not discuss the issues or provide information also supports my report. While doing research I have had great co-operation from WCB, Manitoba Justice, MPI, Manitoba Highways and others. However when ever I attempt to obtain any data from the City or the Police, my request is either ignored with no response or I am directed to apply for the information through the The Freedom of Information application.

For those who were not aware, the details of the first photo enforcement contract with ACS is protected by a Ten Thousand Dollar Fee. This is the same contract that was surrounded by controversy and was harshly criticized by a 2006 audit done by the City. This was a $30 Million Dollar No Bid contract awarded to ACS. and was allowed to happen with the help of the two man team that was negotiating on behalf of the Police Service.

The officer in charge at the time Sgt. Jon Butcher, took early retirement after the program was implemented and then went on to work for a lobby group funded by ACS and is now Head of Sales in Canada for ACS.

Why not just be transparent ?

Why not just open the whole program up to the public and let them decide. Why not let the public decide if they want to continue to make a For Profit Company rich while the city gets less. If the public was aware that up until 2000 the Traffic Division was generating a high volume of tickets and actually making the streets safer do you think they might want to go back to that model? Traffic positions have been slashed and human generated tickets are a fraction of what they used to be. Finally why did WPS remove all references from their website about their goal being to put photo enforcement out of business.

Could it be that those who have the most to lose, say the least?

I'll conclude this by quoting a Free Press Article by Bruce Owen dated October 30, 2001,

Safety or Revenue? What do you think?

Quit Smoking Now

Additional Source, Winnipeg Free Press Nov. 8/08

2006 City Auditors report.

Ticket statistics taken from WPS website and Annual Reports.