Red-light fines to go to police, firefighters

Dallas Morning News | Tanya Eiserer:

“Dallas police and firefighters will soon have to pay up if they run afoul of the city's red-light cameras. Many police officers are angry about the proposed policy. The prevailing belief among officers has been that they can run red lights as they see fit. 'I know that a lot of the officers are not real happy about it,' said Senior Cpl. James Bristo, second vice president of the Dallas Fraternal Order of Police. 'Nobody out here is just running red lights left and right.' He said many police officers view the new policy as yet another thing they have to worry about.”

Ed Cognoski responds:

I thought police already had to "worry about" things like running red lights. The dangers of doing so have to be outweighed by the need to respond quickly to an emergency. State law spells out the circumstances when officers are given the latitude to run red lights, but it doesn't give them blanket permission to run red lights "as they see fit".

This new policy doesn't change state law. All it does is impose a financial consequence to the officer's wallet if and when he violates those standards. Perhaps some disciplinary action other than a fine would make more sense, but as long as the conditions under which officers can and cannot run red lights are spelled out, there ought to be consequences for violating that policy.

Just as for civilians, there ought to be an appeals process for police officers who are caught by automated cameras running red lights. If they are justified in doing so, the citation can be voided. If they are not justified, they ought to accept the consequences. Civilians are expected to "worry about" obeying the law. So should police officers.