Free Republic

I'm posting my situation on a thread in order to alert others to be on the look out of ways the government, especially the local government, may be ripping us off. I believe we are being targeted as fools to pay for our politicians shortfalls. I live in Maryland, a very liberal state which taxes everything, and am seeing signs they are desperate to raise money instead of ways to cut spending. Here is a situation I found myself in recently: I received a "final notice" for speed monitoring violation from the town of Forest Heights PD (Maryland). However, I...

Memphis City Council Chairman Myron Lowery is proposing to bridge the city’s budget deficit by boosting yields from traffic fines on speeding. The plan is to add radar guns to existing red-light automated enforcement zones and capture photos of drivers exceeding the posted speed limits. “Look, the overwhelming majority of drivers are speeders,” Lowery observed. “That’s a pretty big potential source of revenue that we could get our hands on.” The National Motorists Association contends that “the majority of drivers speed because the posted limits are set below what they should be. They generate millions of pointless traffic tickets and...

I'm looking for a digital camera with no delay between shutter click and capture. Most have a 1-2 second delay. My grand daughter is into acrobatics and my daughter wants to take good pictures. Any help is welcome.

A thermal imaging project in the city of Boston has been put on hold because of privacy concerns. Lisa van der Pool of the Boston Business Journal reports. Boston officials had hoped to have aerial and street-level photos taken across about four square miles of the city this winter using infrared cameras that would show heat loss in the city homes. Officials planned on sharing the photos and analysis with homeowners, and were hoping the findings would increase enrollment in efficiency programs and also create business opportunities. But, the project hit a snag when the American Civil Liberties Union of...

EDMONTON, Alberta, The city of Edmonton, Alberta, is writing off nearly $13 million worth of speeding tickets because the reliability of cameras came into question. Crown Prosecutor Steven Bilodeau said he petitioned the provincial justice ministry to nullify the tickets as people were receiving tickets for impossible infractions, the Edmonton Journal reported. In one case on Jan. 12, a camera snapshot alleged a driver was traveling at 89 mph on a city street, but the video showed all the other vehicles around it moving at the same speed, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported. Bilodeau said all 141,729 tickets issued by...

PARSONS, Kan. — An unlikely pilgrimage is under way to Dwayne’s Photo, a small family business that has through luck and persistence become the last processor in the world of Kodachrome, the first successful color film and still the most beloved. That celebrated 75-year run from mainstream to niche photography is scheduled to come to an end on Thursday when the last processing machine is shut down here to be sold for scrap. In the last weeks, dozens of visitors and thousands of overnight packages have raced here, transforming this small prairie-bound city not far from the Oklahoma border for...

Anaheim voters made it clear today they have no interest in having cameras installed at intersections to catch red-light runners. Anaheim voters made it clear today they have no interest in having cameras installed at intersections to catch red-light runners. Voters overwhelmingly approved Measure K, which bans red light cameras from being installed at the city's intersections. City Council members put the issue on the ballot in part because they objected to the idea of using the cameras as a money-raising tool.

Houstonians rejected the city's red light camera program in a hard-fought ballot contest, delivering an immediate $10 million hit to an already dire budget situation at City Hall. With almost all votes counted, a majority of voters put a decisive end to the use of the devices, which had been used to issue more than 800,000 tickets and collected $44 million in fines since 2006. "This is a victory for the people," said Paul Kubosh, an attorney who defends red light runners and collected more than 20,000 signatures with his brothers to get the referendum on the ballot. "The voters...

Fewer people have been killed and injured on roads following a decision by a local council to switch off its speed cameras. Accident data shows that in the first nine months after the devices were scrapped in Swindon, there were 315 road casualties in the area as a whole, compared with 327 in the same period the previous year. In total there were two fatalities – compared with four in the same period previously – and 44 serious injuries, down from 48. The figures were seized on by campaigners who claim speed cameras do little to combat problem driving...

Several dozen Arizona speed enforcement cameras have officially stopped clicking earlier this morning as the state of Arizona officially killed a traffic enforcement program that failed to generate promised revenue. The state ended its two-year contract with Australia-based Redflex Traffic Systems, the company responsible for installing the cameras and processing imagery. A total of 76 fixed and mobile cameras will be removed from state streets and highways by Labor Day. The state said that drivers that have been snapped along Arizona highways before Friday morning are still responsible for paying the tickets. Drivers, however, are taking a different tune. “I...

Folks heads up, In a phone call I was made aware of a situation today with a Candidate running for the House.

Why is it that when the press is allowed into the white house to cover comments being said by the anointed one, you can barely hear the talking due to the extreme clicking and clacking of the (apparently) antique cameras making so much clatter? My gosh - Are these news agencies so broke that they can't upgrade to nice, quiet 21st century DIGITAL cameras instead of 20th century (probably dating back to the '30s or '40s) cameras?

Plastic Bags To Be Put Over Birmingham 'Terror Cameras' 17 June 2010: A surveillance operation in parts of Birmingham with large Muslim populations has been halted after it was revealed the move was linked to counter terrorism. Bags have now been placed over more than 200 cameras in the Washwood Heath and Sparkbrook districts. They were part of the Project Champion scheme, paid for from a Home Office counter terrorism fund. But officials behind the project said it would have deterred various crimes. Steve Jolly, one of those who first began campaigning about the cameras, said people had been "misled"....

ATS secures investment from Goldman SachsPhoenix Business Journal - by Patrick O'Grady Phoenix Business Journal Dave D’Amato, design and engineering manager for American Traffic Solutions Inc., works on a device that will take pictures of speeders. View Larger American Traffic Solutions Inc. is getting an investment boost from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to help it meet increasing demand for its red-light and speed cameras. Although neither company would disclose the amount of the investment, ATS President James Tuton said it was a “significant” amount that will net the former investment house, now a bank holding company, two seats on the...

In response to a flood of Facebook and YouTube videos that depict police abuse, a new trend in law enforcement is gaining popularity. In at least three states, it is now illegal to record any on-duty police officer. Even if the encounter involves you and may be necessary to your defense, and even if the recording is on a public street where no expectation of privacy exists. The legal justification for arresting the "shooter" rests on existing wiretapping or eavesdropping laws, with statutes against obstructing law enforcement sometimes cited. Illinois, Massachusetts, and Maryland are among the 12 states in which...

PHOENIX – Arizona is ending a groundbreaking and contentious program that put speed cameras along Phoenix-area freeways and in vans deployed across the state. Opponents have argued the cameras open the door for wider "Big Brother" surveillance and are more about making money than safety. The program has been the target of an initiative measure proposed for the November ballot. Even Gov. Jan Brewer has said she doesn't like the cameras, and her intention to end the program was first disclosed in her January budget proposal. That was followed by a non-renewal letter sent by the Arizona Department of Public...

James Cameron's love of science and high-tech cameras has previously shone through with his undersea documentaries -- not to mention Titanic or even Avatar. Now the film director is playing "public engagement co-investigator" on NASA's upcoming SUV-sized rover mission, which will carry full-color digital cameras and zoom lenses -- but it's a race to complete the lenses in time for the mission's 2011 launch. Cameron approached NASA administrator Charles Bolden about including the 3-D camera in January, according to the AP. NASA had originally cut the 3-D camera and zoom lens options back in 2007, for budgetary reasons. But Cameron's...

People who ran a light recently at a South Seattle intersection known for red-light cameras have caught a break. The camera ...was stolen earlier this month and police are still searching for it. A police spokesman said they've identified a car they believe was involved in the theft, but the investigation is ongoing. The camera is owned by American Traffic Solutions, the vendor that contracts with the city. Under normal circumstances, the city pays $3,750 per month for the camera service. Between July 26, 2006 -- the first day a red-light camera ticket was issued in Seattle -- and May...

The cameras, which combine number plate reading technology with a global positioning satellite receiver, are similar to those used in roadworks. The AA said it believed the new system could cover a network of streets as opposed to a straight line, and was “probably geared up to zones in residential areas.” The Home Office is testing the cameras at two sites, one in Southwark, London, and the other A374 between Antony and Torpoint in Cornwall. The `SpeedSpike’ system, which calculates average speed between any two points in the network, has been developed by PIPS Technology Ltd, an American-owned company with...

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Two local groups say a Cincinnati-based political action committee is assisting the petition drives they are launching Friday to ban traffic cameras in Cleveland and Garfield Heights. The Coalition Opposed to Additional Spending and Taxes (COAST) helped write the petition language for proposed charter amendments to end camera use in those cities and pledged legal help for the campaigns, said former Garfield Heights council president Frank Wagner, who is leading the drive in his city. "COAST has a track record of completion and wins on this issue," said Maryanne Petranek of Cleveland and the group Cuyahoga County...