Post by WaTcHeR on Aug 28, 2006 11:12:49 GMT -5
08.28.2006 - Automatic cameras are catching city employees speeding or running red lights while driving city vehicles. And while the numbers aren't overwhelming, the subsequent tickets have sparked a class action lawsuit.
The exact number of tickets is difficult to pin down. Each city department collects its own data, and vehicle use varies drastically from department to department.
But one of the biggest users of city cars, the Albuquerque Police Department, had racked up just six violations as of a few months ago, according to department spokesman John Walsh. Officers set off the cameras routinely, he said, but they're not ticketed if they were responding to a call.
Six city bus drivers have also run afoul of the cameras, and they are represented in the lawsuit, which attorney Paul Livingston filed Thursday.
The lawsuit seeks reimbursement of their fines and cancellation of any disciplinary action, among other measures.
The 23-page document is a broadside attack on how the city is handling the violations committed by its employees and the ordinance that set up the cameras in the first place.
It alleges that:
The ordinance violates common law because it "irrationally" declares city vehicles public nuisances.
"I can't avoid seeing some of the funny things about this," Livingston said.
The city is violating due process provisions in the U.S. and New Mexico constitutions by not allowing those ticketed to have a hearing. Instead, the complaint says, the city pays the fine preemptively and then simply deducts the amount - the first offense is $100 - from employee paychecks.
The city administration has no authority to enforce the ordinance under state law. Only Metro Court, the complaint says, has jurisdiction over such matters.
Under state law, only uniformed police officers have authority to give out such tickets.
"It's supposed to be something real and not a camera," Livingston said.
City Attorney Bob White confirmed that he had received the complaint and said he was reviewing it.
"We'll be making sure that what the city is doing . . . comports with state law," he said.
www.abqtrib.com/albq/nw_local_state_government/article/0,2564,ALBQ_19859_4947427,00.html
The exact number of tickets is difficult to pin down. Each city department collects its own data, and vehicle use varies drastically from department to department.
But one of the biggest users of city cars, the Albuquerque Police Department, had racked up just six violations as of a few months ago, according to department spokesman John Walsh. Officers set off the cameras routinely, he said, but they're not ticketed if they were responding to a call.
Six city bus drivers have also run afoul of the cameras, and they are represented in the lawsuit, which attorney Paul Livingston filed Thursday.
The lawsuit seeks reimbursement of their fines and cancellation of any disciplinary action, among other measures.
The 23-page document is a broadside attack on how the city is handling the violations committed by its employees and the ordinance that set up the cameras in the first place.
It alleges that:
The ordinance violates common law because it "irrationally" declares city vehicles public nuisances.
"I can't avoid seeing some of the funny things about this," Livingston said.
The city is violating due process provisions in the U.S. and New Mexico constitutions by not allowing those ticketed to have a hearing. Instead, the complaint says, the city pays the fine preemptively and then simply deducts the amount - the first offense is $100 - from employee paychecks.
The city administration has no authority to enforce the ordinance under state law. Only Metro Court, the complaint says, has jurisdiction over such matters.
Under state law, only uniformed police officers have authority to give out such tickets.
"It's supposed to be something real and not a camera," Livingston said.
City Attorney Bob White confirmed that he had received the complaint and said he was reviewing it.
"We'll be making sure that what the city is doing . . . comports with state law," he said.
www.abqtrib.com/albq/nw_local_state_government/article/0,2564,ALBQ_19859_4947427,00.html