Former Arizona Officer Decries Radar Cams

PHOENIX --

A veteran of the Arizona Department of Public Safety who retired in 1999 is criticizing his former employer’s usage of photo radar enforcement cameras.

Bob McCarthy spent 34 years patrolling Arizona highways for DPS. He disagrees with the state utilizing cameras as a way to enforce speed limit laws.

McCarthy’s biggest complaint is the cameras may unfairly snap the picture of someone who is merely passing another car and then returning to a legal speed.

“You’re passing a vehicle for whatever reason. You feel uncomfortable. We’ve all gone through this. So you hit 65-70 miles per hour and then you slow down again,” McCarthy said. “I would never cite anyone making a short pass and resuming the legal speed limit.”

McCarthy believes that speeding is what he terms a “continuous violation” and the cameras fail to monitor a driver’s speed for long enough to determine whether they are going too fast.

McCarthy does not endorse eliminating the cameras though. Instead, he believes multiple cameras can be used to determine a person’s average speed over a longer period of time.

Using that method, McCarthy said, the cameras would determine the drivers consistently speeding, but not punish those who sped up briefly to pass someone and then returned to a legal speed.

“I say go after the dangerous drivers,” McCarthy said.

DPS, however, believes the cameras have decreased the number of wrecks on the roads and have increased safety for drivers.

They added that the cameras have allowed their officers to focus on other law enforcement activities because fewer officers are needed to monitor speed infractions.

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