Judge orders Elmwood Place speed cameras confiscated

[Silent_Bob]

http://www.wlwt.com/news/local-news/hamilton-county/judge-orders-elmwood-place-speed-cameras-confiscated/-/13550662/20737258/-/y6u110z/-/index.html

Drivers in Elmwood Place can say goodbye to the speed cameras.

Not only have they been shut down for good by Judge Robert Ruehlman, but he's ordered them to be hauled off the street and impounded.

Both sides in the contentious legal battle over the speed cameras were back before Ruehlman for a contempt hearing Thursday, where the judge ruled that Elmwood Place and the speed camera contractor Optotraffic were in contempt of court.

Back in March, Ruehlman found the speed cameras unconstitutional. He essentially ordered the cameras shut down, the speed camera ticketing program shut down, and ordered that the outstanding tickets did not have to be paid.

On Thursday, Ruehlman found that his order was violated in several ways. First, the cameras were turned back on, although Elmwood Place Police Chief Bill Peskin testified that they were only used to collect speed and traffic data -- not to collect license plate information or issue new tickets.

Peskin also testified that he told people that they did not have to pay their tickets when they came to the police station.

"Many people did show up, trying to pay their citation to us," Peskin said, "and we told them that the program was to be suspended and they didn't have to pay the citation."

But tickets were never meant to be paid to the village. The traffic camera company collected the citations, and apparently continued to collect money sent in after the judge's March order.

There was testimony in court that some $48,000 was collected, with a percentage of that money passed on to the village per the speed camera contract. Optotraffic did not have a representative in court Thursday.

Attorney Mike Allen, who is part of the team fighting the speed cameras, called the cameras a "money grab."

"This offends me as a citizen, it offends me as a lawyer, it offends me on behalf of my clients," said Allen.

To make sure his order was not violated further, Ruehlman ordered the Hamilton County Sheriff to seize the traffic cameras and all equipment that is part of the program and store it at the village's expense. The equipment will be released when the $48,000 in improperly collected ticket money is returned.

Another victory in court for the lawyers fighting the cameras came when the topic moved to a class action lawsuit. The judge allowed the lawyers to move forward with a class action suit that Mike Allen says would involve anyone who was given a ticket by the speed cameras back to the first day of operations in Elmwood Place.

"We're going to do everything in our power to get some money back in those people's pockets because it's just not right," Allen said.

The class action suit could take quite a bit of time to move through the courts. Hearings were scheduled out several months from now during today's hearing.

But with the Ohio House approving a ban on speed cameras earlier this week, Allen says, "I think the days of speed cameras in the village of Elmwood and in the state of Ohio are numbered."