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River Forest cameras lead to hundreds of citations
River Forest Village PresidentJohn Rigas speaks during the Annual State of the Villages dinner. | Ari Neiditz ~ for Sun-Times Media
Updated: February 25, 2013 4:16PM
RIVER FOREST — Red light photo enforcement technology activated in mid-January has captured around 2,500 alleged red light violations at the southwest corner of North and Harlem Avenues.
Of those 2,500 violations submitted by vendor Safe Speed, the village accepted 1,439 cases and approved the mailing of citations.
Police Chief Greg Weiss said that whatever citations were approved hadn’t gone into the mail as of Feb. 20.
At $100 per violation, those 1,439 tickets translate to $143,900 gross revenue, with 60 percent going to the village- $86,340.
A second red light camera, at Harlem and Lake Street, has not been turned on yet. An Internet link to that camera is still being set up, Weiss said.
Weiss said a proposal to dedicate all camera revenue to the police and fire departments has been discussed previously by the board, but he was unaware of any decision on the matter.
“What they do with the camera revenues is up to them,” Weiss said. “If it helps public safety with programming and equipment, that’s a bonus for us. But we don’t have any control over it.”
