Move over, Chicago. You’ve got nothing on Baltimore. So you let dead people vote in your elections? That’s nothing. Baltimore lets dead police officers issue traffic citations.

Under Maryland law, a traffic citation issued to the owner of a motor vehicle “caught” by a stoplight or speed camera must contain a sworn statement signed by a police officer stating that the officer has studied the camera images and that the vehicle was in violation of the law. Last week, WBAL-TV News discovered that some 2,000 stoplight camera citations were issued over the signature of an officer who was dead at the time of alleged violations.

The officer who had “signed” the citations was Baltimore City Police Officer James Fowler, who was killed in a traffic accident back in September. The problem came to light because someone who received one of the citations — for a violation that allegedly had occurred last month — showed it to a retired city police officer who had once worked with Fowler.

A police department spokesman said the problem was caused by a “computer glitch” and blamed it on the private contractor that operates the cameras. He said the department “does not blanket approve citations”. I don’t know whether he realizes it or not — or maybe he just thinks the rest of us are too stupid to realize it — but those two statements are contradictory. If a “computer glitch” was responsible, then the officer who really reviewed the citations should have caught the error. That is, if an actual, flesh-and-blood officer really did review the citations. Read more »

Last week Dan Rodricks, a local columnist for The Baltimore Sun, wrote about being issued a $40 speeding ticket after an unmanned speed camera clocked his car going 40 miles per hour in a 25 mph zone. He thought it was terribly unfair, because the stretch of road with the speed camera ran by a deserted cemetery, and he thought the cameras were supposed to be placed only in school zones and work zones.

I admit to feeling a moment — just a moment, mind you — of the smug satisfaction liberals must feel when a prominent conservative gets caught doing something unconservative, like soliciting sex in the little boys’ room.

Rodricks is a liberal and, as he says, “I support speed cameras.” So when his own puppy jumps up and bites him on the butt, it’s hard to resist taunting him, “Nyah! Nyah! See, I told you so!”.

But I will resist, partly because Rodricks has a valid complaint. And it’s not just about the speed camera not being anywhere near a school or work zone. The state law authorizing counties and municipalities to set up unmanned speed cameras requires that signs inform motorists that they are in a school or work zone where speed is photo-enforced. The law also requires that warnings, without fines, be issued for the first 30 days a speed camera is in place, but Rodricks was ordered to pay a fine for a violation that took place only eight days after the camera was placed at that location. Read more »