Police may take control of van camera program

•	Cameras not self-sustaining
•	New York to employ dummy cameras
	Do you think county police departments should take over the day-to-day oversight of the state's traffic photo enforcement program? Join our discussion

By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Transportation Writer

County police departments should take over day-to-day oversight of the state's traffic photo enforcement program, Transportation Director Brian Minaai said yesterday.

City officials have so far declined to allow camera vans on city roads. This one is on the Pali Highway. Advertiser library photo • Jan. 10, 2002

"They should be able to decide whether to do it, where to do it, and when to do it," he said.

Under Minaai's proposal, the Transportation Department would continue to administer the state's contract with the private company operating the cameras, but police officials on each island would decide how the cameras are deployed.

The department would consider reimbursing police for administrative expenses from the state's share of revenue generated by ticket citations, he said.

Police officials in Maui and Hawai'i counties have reacted enthusiastically, and Honolulu police "are open to the idea," Minaai said.

When photo enforcement was first proposed for Hawai'i in 1998, the original legislation called for the program to be run by county police. Before it was implemented, however, legislators changed the law to put the Transportation Department in charge of a three-year trial project.

Chief wants more details

When tickets were first issued in January one of the biggest public objections to the program was that it was privately run without any police supervision. Model legislation for automated traffic enforcement programs prepared by three national groups in October requires county police to oversee such programs, Minaai said.

Honolulu city officials, who in the past have declined to allow speed camera vans on city roads, yesterday said they are open to the proposal but want to hear more details.

"We'd like to see their proposal and hear their ideas," city spokeswoman Carol Costa said. "We're open to hearing and reviewing what they have to say, but we'd rather hear it from the state directly before we comment further."

Police Chief Lee Donohue also said he'd have no comment until hearing more from state officials.

In the past, police on Maui and Hawai'i County have said they would welcome the use of the camera technology to help slow drivers, but administration officials in those counties have been less enthusiastic about participating in the state program. Kaua'i officials said they were taking a wait-and-see approach to participation.

Minaai made his comments yesterday during a Senate hearing yesterday on a House bill to overhaul the van cam program.

In other testimony, Minaai and several insurance industry representatives opposed a House proposal to keep all speeding citations off a traffic abstract, thus preventing them from affecting auto insurance rates.

"In essence good drivers will be penalized and have no incentive to abide by the law because they will pay the same rate as a bad driver with numerous speeding tickets," said State Farm Insurance representative Rick Tsujimura.

Citation policy defended

Minaai suggested instead that photo enforcement citations be treated as parking citations which don't appear on abstracts as "a better way to address the potential impacts of increased insurance premiums."

Treating citations as parking tickets also would eliminate the need to photograph the driver of the car, another House provision opposed by the Transportation Department. Minaai also defended the department's apparent policy of still issuing citations for some drivers caught going less than 10 mph over the speed limit, even though an increasing number of state judges have thrown all those tickets out of court.

"Right now, it's still individual judges doing that," Minaai said. "The judiciary has made it clear that it's not an official administrative position."

By the end of the day yesterday, three Senate committees voted to strip all the House-passed language on reforming the traffic camera program from the bill and replace it with Senate language to simply repeal the whole program. That virtually ensures that differences between the two houses will have to be worked out in a conference committee at the end of the legislative session next month.

The House Transportation Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on the Senate's version of the bill at 9 this morning.

Mike Leidemann can be reached at 525-5460 or mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com.