Ohio Judge finds speed cameras "unconstitutional"

[Brazen]

Judge finds cameras unconstitutional, when they kept operating he orders them seized.

Case came about due to drivers entering into a class action.

Very different environment to Australia!

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...tempt/2465791/

CINCINNATI -- A judge found Elmwood Place, Ohio, and the company it hired in contempt of court Thursday because the village continued operating its speeding cameras and collecting fines even after the judge ordered the program shut down.

"Any money that was collected after my order has to be returned," Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Robert Ruehlman ruled Thursday.

Ruehlman ruled March 7 that the 2012 Elmwood Place ordinance that allowed cameras and other equipment to be used to measure the speed of cars and ticket speeders without pulling them over was unconstitutional. At that time, he ordered a stop to the speeding camera program the Cincinnati suburb was using. The program brought the village more than $1 million while it operated.

Still, Lanham, Md.-based Optotraffic LLC, the company that runs the speed camera program for Elmwood Place, continued to issue citations, run the equipment and collect fines. Elmwood Place received 60% of the revenue from those fines.

"They continued to operate the equipment after I ordered them not to," the judge said, citing both Optotraffic and Elmwood Place with contempt of court. He also ordered the cameras and equipment confiscated.

They can clear that contempt, the judge added, by repaying $48,500 in speeding fines collected after his order and removing the traffic cameras.

"They flagrantly violated Judge Ruehlman's order. I think his response was extremely appropriate. He could have done a lot more," said Mike Allen, the attorney representing private citizens who sued the village of 2,200 over the speeding camera program.

Thirteen states and the District of Columbia have speed cameras operating in at least one location, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association. Ohio has 13 other jurisdictions that use them, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says.

A dozen states have laws prohibiting them.

Ruehlman's ruling comes a day after Ohio lawmakers approved a measure that would bar local governments across the state from using cameras to determine whether motorists have run red lights or been speeding.