Fairfax City to Add Red-Light Cameras to Three More Intersections

At its meeting last Tuesday, the Fairfax City Council agreed to the expansion of the city’s photo red-light enforcement program – but not by as much as was originally proposed.

Fairfax City Chief of Police Rick Rappoport made a presentation to the City Council and Mayor Scott Silverthorne during the July 9 meeting, outlining a proposal for adding five additional red-light cameras at some of the city’s most violation-happy intersections.

But, when the Council and Mayor heard such an expansion would most likely require the hiring of a new police officer to oversee the additional cameras, they decided to downgrade the expansion to fewer cameras to save costs.

Chief Rappoport said, though the photo red-light enforcement program has been successful in that it has accomplished its ultimate goal – reducing the number of red-light violations at all intersections they have been placed in – he said, running such a program takes a lot of police man-hours, to review the footage from the cameras and decide whether or not each photo warrants the issuing of a ticket to the driver.

The Chief outlined five intersections he proposed the City place new cameras at – intersections that, according to data, have the highest number of red-light runners, and are therefore the most dangerous. But, he said adding so many new cameras meant he felt the department would need an additional full-time employee just to manage the processing for the subsequent violations, as on average, 92 percent of violations red-light cameras catch warrant the issuing of a ticket.

Chief Rappoport said, the additional “motor officer” would cost the City roughly $110,000 in total, when one adds up the officer’s salary, benefits, vehicle and other necessary equipment.

“There is an issue of staffing. If we add more intersections, we add more workload – and that workload has to be satisfied by somebody,” Chief Rappoport told the Council during the meeting. “We either take more police time off the street - in addition to what we’re already taking off the street - or we add an additional staff person.”

Aside from the cost of hiring the additional motor officer, the Chief said the costs of adding additional cameras are relatively “cost-neutral,” as the revenue produced by the violations off-sets fees and costs paid to the vendor the City pays to install and maintain the cameras, and download the footage to send to the City for review and processing into tickets that are mailed to the violators.

The only problem is manpower.

The Chief reiterated that he and his department think the expansion of the program is very good for the City and its residents’ public safety, and he thinks, worth it for the extra cost. He said, residents are constantly telling the police department that they see too many red-light runners and other violations, and that they want their streets to be safer.

He pointed out, red-light cameras catch a lot more violations than a physical police officer watching an intersection can safely catch. The placing of new cameras means police officers can instead spend their time at other intersections that have no cameras.

Initially, the Council was divided over whether to move forward with the program’s expansion.

Though he does not have an official vote in the matter, Mayor Silverthorne spoke out against the idea of using City funds to hire an additional officer to help manage the photo red-light program.

“Asking for additional staffing does not sit well with me,” he said to Chief Rappoport. “In my personal opinion, if it is indeed that much of a priority, you should reallocate existing staffing.”

Councilmembers Steve Stombres and Ellie Schmidt said they saw “no compelling safety reasons” to move forward with adding additional intersections.

Councilmember David Meyer felt the opposite, and said he fully supported the Chief’s recommendations for five more intersections, as well as the request for hiring an additional motor officer.

Councilmember Jeff Greenfield said he supported the idea of adding cameras, but proposed fewer cameras if it meant it could be done without hiring an additional officer.

“We’ve had many folks in Mosby Woods wanting to know when we would be doing more about red-light running there,” he said.

Greenfield said, back in the late 1990s when Fairfax City’s photo red-light camera program first began as a pilot program with the Commonwealth, there were cameras at three intersections; the cameras were taken down when the program expired in 2005. He said he thought those cameras were extremely effective and that the intersections have only gotten more dangerous since they were taken down.

Greenfield proposed expanding the program in a smaller way by bringing back just those three intersections – at Chain Bridge Road/Rte. 123 and Eaton Place, at Fairfax Boulevard and Plantation Parkway, and at Pickett Road and Main Street.

Greenfield also recalled a terrible accident around 15 years ago at Chain Bridge Road/Rte. 123 and Eaton Place, when a car ran a red light and hit another car, badly. He said, the red-light runner tried to blame the other driver, pinning the accident on him – but the red-light camera caught the accident and vindicated the victim.

Both Councilmembers Michael DeMarco and Dan Drummond supported Greenfield’s proposal of moving forward with just three additional cameras at those intersections.

“We can certainly do [three additional intersections] with existing staffing,” Chief Rappoport agreed.

The City will move forward, and a vote will take place at a future Council meeting on awarding the contract for the red-light cameras to a vendor company.

What do you think of the City adding three new red-light cameras? Do you think these three intersections are dangerous and in need of red-light cameras? Tell us in the comments below.

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