ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — A newly released audit into Orange County's red-light camera program has uncovered inconsistencies when it comes to officers applying the law to drivers.
- Orange County has 35 red light cameras in use on roadways
- Audit determined not everyone who runs one gets violation notice
- READ IT: Orange County Comptroller's audit report (PDF)
The county's 35 red light cameras are always rolling and ready to catch drivers running red lights.
Rhaine McNamara says she ran a red light in December and didn't realize it. One month later, she got a violation letter in the mail that fined her $158.
McNamara says she never thought to contest the fine.
"Don’t deny it. Picture showed it," she said.
But an audit released Tuesday shows that not every driver who has run a red light in Orange County received a "notice of violation," or NOV.
"We agreed with the Sheriff’s Office that 15 of the 30 dismissed NOVs did not meet the criteria listed above," the audit states. "However, we also determined the other 15 dismissed NOVs met all of the above criteria and should not have been dismissed. We discussed 13 (of) our conclusions with the officer who made the decision to dismiss these NOVs. The officer disagreed with 11 of our conclusions, despite what we saw as clear evidence the violations met the above criteria," it said.
"What we found is the criteria were not being applied consistently," Orange County Comptroller Phil Diamond told Spectrum News. "The Sheriff’s Office informed us that it has no written criteria for reviewing camera evidence to determine whether a violation occurred."
Because there are no written guidelines, the reviewing officer has total discretion when it comes to issuing a violation.
The audit reviewed 587 Notices of Violations and found more than half, 325, had been dismissed with the reason, "Administrative Decision."
The audit recommends that the Orange County Sheriff’s Office and Public Works department create a written list of criteria that all officers need to follow.
"Our agency is reviewing the report and analyzing our current procedures based on the new recommendations," the Sheriff's Office said in a written response for comment.
The director of Public Works said in a statement that the following procedures will be incorporated into the program:
- Enhance classroom instruction of the STEP Training curriculum for Traffic Infraction Enforcement Officers.
- Improve review of accept/reject procedures for TIEO Officers and create a checklist of review procedures.
- Develop and implement a QA/QC process to ensure better issuing NOVs and UTCs, including more regular use of the supervisor review queue.
Diamond said this issue is more than drivers getting away with running red lights, it’s an issue of public safety.
"There are tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of red light violations, and any one of them could be serious," he said.
No timeline has been determined for when written guidelines will go into effect.