Hundreds Of Tickets On Hold Due To Speed Camera Problems

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Hundreds of speeding tickets are now on hold after Baltimore City found several speed cameras with problems leading to improper citations being issued.

Rochelle Ritchie has more.

There are five cameras along Cold Spring Lane that the city says snapped photos of cars that may not have been in violation. They are blaming it on environmental issues.

The report card on speed cameras is out and shows what many have thought all along.

"Something's wrong with them," said a driver.

The managing director of Xerox, an ACS company in the hot seat, listened as problems with six out of their 83 cameras across the city were revealed.

"We're confident there are no problems with the radar itself," said Allen Shutt.

Five of the speed cameras are along Cold Spring Lane east and westbound at the 500, 1300, 1400 and 1700 blocks. The sixth is at the 400-block of Franklin Street.

The company says their cameras are not to blame. Instead, they say "radar effects" from environmental issues such as reflection and absorption, caused photos to be reviewed incorrectly, resulting in false tickets.

"There have been very isolated incidents of human error," said Shutt.

In the report, the company says, "Images should have been flagged in our processing workflow as exception requiring further review and eliminated from the process."

"It just blew my mind just to get tickets like that back to back to back," said Don Torrence.

The problem is being brought to light just a few weeks before the end of one contract and the beginning of another.

"One of the issues we've been discussing with the new vendor we have on board...we have to create additional layers of oversight," said Khalil Zaied.

It remains to be seen if any of the improvements will help, leaving those who once supported the speed cameras now questioning that decision.

"Is it truly about safety or is it about revenue?" said Ragina Averella, AAA.

The company is advising the city to stop issuing citations from the problematic cameras until the situation is corrected.

The city has made more than $19 million from the speed camera system.