Warden considering speeding cameras

WARDEN - Warden is examining a proposal to install cameras to catch speeders in the city.

Police Chief Rick Martin presented information from EdgeCameras, an Everett company. The company's proposal states it would install and maintain one unit in a fixed location for one month at no cost to the city. The company charges $30 per ticket issued. The company's revenue would come from the tickets issued because of the camera.

"If it's something that maybe we want to do, I don't believe they gave me a time frame, it was just saying, 'Are we interested or are we not interested?'" Martin said. "We don't have to do it right away, but my recommendation is to just read through the packet and then we can decide whether we're really interested or not."

The first step is for the council to decide whether they want to proceed. If the city decides to move forward, it's undecided where the camera would go, Martin said in an interview after the meeting. The level of traffic would determine where it would be located.

"I would be curious on what the council thought was the best place to put them," he said. "It may not be in the school zone. The school zone only runs a little over two hours a day ... If I can have officers cover those two hours, we could stick it somewhere else. It's a thought."

When drivers don't see an officer, Martin said they're more likely to speed. It's hard for officers to stop trucks speeding on County Road.

"We've got two apartment (complexes) on either side of the road," he said. "It's not only the school, but we do have children living on either side of the road."

Mayor Roldan Capetillo asked whether cities were keeping the cameras, saying he heard reports about cities getting rid of them.

"There's a dance that goes on between our city ordinances ... and a ticket that can be issued without an officer sending it," Martin said. "There's a whole lot of arguments about what is going on. It's just being fleshed out in court."

Martin felt a lot of the complaints stem from politics, saying people don't like getting tickets in the mail.

"I believe when people catch on they're just not going to speed," he said. "The whole point is to get them to slow down ... For us, they'll slow down and we won't increase revenue."

Capetillo said the cameras in Moses Lake seem to control people's speed. He pointed out the trucks during harvest speed through the city, and he's afraid someone will get hurt.

"You know which lights you're not supposed to go through, because you know they're going to catch you," he said. "I like going to the (Grant Transit Authority board meetings) and looking at those pictures. The drivers hate it, but you can't fight it because they've got a picture of you in the front and in the back. The license is really big."

Councilmember Tony Massa pointed out the council's ultimate goal was to make the school zones safer.

"That's why council came with this, because we were concerned about the school zone, especially during harvest," he said.

Responding to a question from Councilmember Mike Leavitt, Martin believed the city could set the fine to the lowest civil penalty, which is about $69 for Warden.

"If I write you a ticket for speeding, that money goes many places, but it starts out at the county," he said. "The city, I don't believe, gets any of that."