Red-Light Cameras Will Be Installed

A company that has been criticized for delays in putting cameras at Los Angeles intersections to nab red-light runners pledged in a letter to city officials Friday that it will fulfill its contract.

Affiliated Computer Services, which provides and operates the cameras, also proposed changes to improve the program’s effectiveness and public confidence in its results.

Only eight intersections have been fitted with the cameras, although under the contract, devices were to have been installed at 16 intersections by Aug. 1.

The firm is conducting a survey to determine which city intersections have the most red-light runners and would most benefit from the remaining cameras.

In addition, the firm is seeking to renegotiate its contract to be paid a flat fee rather than $60 per ticket.

Concerned about the delays, a City Council panel earlier this week asked the city attorney to determine whether the city has any legal recourse.

On Friday, Maury Hannigan, vice president and managing director of ACS, assured city officials in writing that the firm will work with the city to fulfill the contract and, in the meantime, is continuing to operate the eight cameras that have already been put up to photograph red-light runners.

“Let there be no question or doubt, ACS has been and remains absolutely committed to perform our obligations under our agreement with the city,” Hannigan said.

Hannigan argued that converting to a flat fee rather than a per-ticket amount “would bolster public confidence in the program” and is in keeping with a recent court ruling in San Diego in which hundreds of tickets were voided out of concern that a firm processing the photographs benefits financially from convictions.

The firm has also proposed that a second camera be added at each site to photograph the rear license plates on the 20% of cars that would otherwise escape prosecution because they do not have front license plates to photograph.

The written reassurance was welcomed by Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski, who heads the council’s Public Safety Committee.

“It’s a very good step,” she said. “It’s their fulfilling their end of the bargain.”

Miscikowski also welcomed a proposal for the firm to give up its role in selecting which intersections get the cameras.