PHOTO BY MEGHAN ERKKINEN

Fife’s red light photo enforcement program has already caught more than 320 offenders in the first two weeks. The police department is only issuing warnings while they test the system, but beginning in April, offenders will begin receiving citations.

Red light program moves forward

By Meghan Erkkinen

In the first two weeks of Fife’s red light photo enforcement program, more than 320 offenders have been photographed for running lights at two different intersections. Because the police department is still adjusting the cameras, these drivers will only get warnings, but beginning in April offenders will receive tickets.

The cameras are located at Pacific Highway East and Alexander Avenue. About 230 offenders have been captured heading eastbound on Pacific Highway and 89 were caught headed along Alexander Avenue.

Already, the police depart-ment has seen a change in behavior, according to Police Chief Brad Blackburn. Tacoma, which implemented a similar program around the same time as Fife, has already seen an 8 percent reduction in crashes at the intersections with these cameras.

Blackburn said he was surprised by the number of offenders so far.

“It’s amazing we haven’t had more accidents,” he said. “We knew there was an identified problem there, but we haven’t had as many crashes there than at other intersections. It’s higher there than we had expected.”

The city is currently working with the state to add two more cameras, at Pacific Highway and 54th Avenue and at 54th Avenue and 20th Street. The city is also considering cameras at 70th Avenue and 20th Street.

Some council members said they would support expanding it even further, but others are more hesitant.

“This is a deterrent to behavior, and unfortunately, this is the only deterrent a lot of people have,” said Councilmember Glenn Hull. “These (cameras) should be in most of our intersections.”

Others were not so convinced.

“I think hitting our four key intersections right now” is sufficient, said Mayor Barry Johnson, adding that cameras at those four would act as a deterrent around the city.

Other council members are skeptical about the program itself.

“I doubted it at first and didn’t want it, so it’ll have to prove itself,” said Councilmember Nancy de Booy, who, along with Councilmember Rob Cerqui, dissented in last summer’s vote to implement the system.

“I would like to hear periodic reports to assess the value of it,” de Booy said. “I have no doubt this is necessary in some intersections, but I wouldn’t want to become a police city.”

She said although the program is meant to promote public safety and not to make money, the fines collected would also benefit the city. The money will go into a special public safety fund, which will go to pay for school zone signs and lights, pedestrian overpasses, sidewalks, street-lights, crosswalks and other similar projects.

The red light enforcement program works by capturing video of drivers who cross the stop line after a light turns red. Officers review the video and send tickets to the registered owner of the vehicle. Because the police department cannot verify who is driving the car, the tickets issues are only considered to be like parking tickets and do not go on a driver’s record.

So far, according to Blackburn, eight offenders have been excused – seven because officers could not read the cars’ license plates and one because the officer could not see the red light in the video.

The red light enforcement program, which is done in partnership with RedFlex Traffic Systems, was approved last July in a 5-2 decision by the city council.

Hull said he can’t wait to see the program grow.

“It’s a balance between public safety and your civil liberties,” he said. “I would be in support of expanding the program to other key intersections in the city and encouraging other cities to do the same.”

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