5 Gwinnett Cities to Stop Using Red Light Cameras

Five cities in Gwinnett County are stopping the use of red light cameras at busy intersections, saying they are too costly even though they have reduced accidents.

Norcross and Suwanee have removed the cameras, Snellville and Lilburn have suspended their programs for study and Duluth says it won't renew its lease when it expires in May.

The cameras monitor and record red light violations.

By summer only one government in Gwinnett will still be using the cameras - the county government.

Officials say the cameras are working, with violations, accidents and injuries all down. But the program can cost cities $400,000 a year and the number of citations have dwindled since a state law mandates a one-second addition to the yellow phase at all camera intersections.

(AP)

Bibb Co. to get high-speed lisc. tag scanner

Deputies in Bibb County are about to get a little high-tech help from a device that will allow them to scan license plates into a crime database at a rate of one plate per second.

The Automated License Plate Recognition System uses cameras to photograph license plates, said Tony Rousey, the county's director of information technology.

The data is fed into a computer that compares the plate to records of stolen vehicles, stolen tags and other offenses, Rousey said.

"It's another tool that we can use that will make us more effective and more efficient," said Sheriff Jerry Modena.

Modena said he expects the vehicle with the scanner will spend a lot of time monitoring major traffic arteries, but deputies also will meander through crowded parking lots, according to a report appearing in the Macon Telegraph newspaper.

(AP)

DeKalb Co. loses millions of dollars in traffic tickets

Internal court e-mails show that the DeKalb County Recorders Court has lost track of hundreds of thousands of citations, costing the county and state possibly tens of millions of dollars in uncollected fines.

The e-mails, obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution through the Georgia Open Records Act, show that a two-year communications failure in the computer system has caused citations to sit unresolved in case databases.

No one knows how many unresolved citations exist, but an internal memo from a consultant estimated the value of uncollected fines at $90 million to $135 million. Recorders court officials
dispute the figures, but had no idea how much money was lost.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of court-related issues.

(AP)