Quote:
Originally Posted by PapoZalsa
What do you mean by a 3rd party? Rental cops?
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Kind of but not really, they're contractors.
theres a lot of good info at this site
Maryland Speed Cameras
Here is one bullet I pulled from the faqs
•The speed cameras are NOT operated by sworn police officers. Instead this is outsourced to a private company. For example, under Montgomery county's contract
ACS receives a $16.25 per ticket commission from these cameras, despite the fact that this violates a provision of state law intended to forbid paying contractors based on the number of citations issued or paid. For a long time the county refused requests to release the full details of their contract with ACS to the public. Now almost all the other speed camera programs starting up in the state use similar arrangements, turning over almost total control of the cameras and the ticket program to contractors who get paid a cut of every ticket. Per ticket commissions could encourage the contractor to cheat in order to maximize the number of tickets rather than safety, operate inaccurate cameras, or create barriers to legitimate ticket challenges. Essentially the contractor which generates the evidence used in court cases gets paid only if the defendant is found guilty, a clear conflict of interest. Moreover, the fact that local governments have circumvented this part of the law simply to guarantee a revenue stream brings into question whether ANY limitations will be respected.