Illinois To Stop 'Unethical' Red-Light Camera Ticket Collections

ACROSS ILLINOIS — Starting next month, the state of Illinois will stop collecting fines against drivers who are caught on camera violating red lights, Comptroller Susan Mendoza announced Monday. According to a news release from Mendoza's office, the state will stop helping municipalities collect fines beginning Feb. 6, adding that the system is both unfair to low-income Illinoisans and the subject of a federal corruption probe.

"My office is taking decisive action in response to unethical arrangements that have come to light regarding the red-light camera industry," Mendoza said in the release. "As a matter of public policy, this system is clearly broken. I am exercising the moral authority to prevent state resources being used to assist a shady process that victimizes taxpayers."

According to the news release, the General Assembly in 2012 started allowing municipalities and other local governments to use the comptroller's offset system to help collect court fines, administrative judgments, traffic tickets, and other types of debt through withholding of state income tax refunds or other state payments. In the past, that system has been used to assist in the collection of child support, overpayment of benefits and other types of debt.

According to several news reports, minority and low-income drivers are hit the hardest by these tickets. A $100 fine doubles and ultimately almost triples if unpaid, the news release said. Loss of a driver's license can mean loss of a job for those who can't afford to keep up with the ticket fines and late fees, state officials added.

According to the news release, the Chicago Sun-Times quoted one government official who acted as a consultant to a red-light company by helping get them contracts with certain towns, in addition to saying he gets a cut of the money paid on every such ticket issued in those towns. This is just one of several reported arrangements of this kind.

"This kind of arrangement stinks — it's plain rotten," Mendoza said. "It exploits taxpayers and especially those who struggle to pay the fines imposed, often the working poor and communities of color. We can't continue the practice of municipal employees directly pocketing cash from contracts they arrange."

Many states outside of Illinois ban the use of these red-light cameras entirely, and Mendoza urges all municipalities to take another look at "any contracts with red-light camera companies and determine if those contracts were procured properly in light of recent news reports and criminal investigations concerning the red-light camera industry and its relationship with government officials."

While a growing percentage of debt collections have involved red-light camera ticket violations, mainly from Chicago suburbs, the state does not collect for the City of Chicago's red-light or speeding camera tickets because of controversy over the use of these and the reliability of ticket and motorist data provided by the City of Chicago, the news release added.

More information: illinoiscomptroller.gov