Canton Ohio
Community Policing, would it benefit Canton Ohio?
I can’t be bothered to make some silly quip about residents working hand in hand with the Canton Police Department being the building blocks of making a better community or whatever.
I will say that cooperation is the only way to clean up the City. STEAL from other cities’ programs, but only their ideas, not the money.
Money, in fact, will soon be pouring into Canton as $21.5 millions in stimulus funds are on their way.
What better way to use these (after a job creation initiative) than to start a Community Involvement/Policing Program. More neighborhood watches, with citizen patrols. Neighbors looking out for one another. Annual block parties throughout the wards to encourage neighbors to get to know one another, and have the police officers attend these so that the people can get to know the fine men and women that have the dangerous job of protecting their lives and property.
I also had the idea of equipping responsible and concerned citizens, temporarily, with cheap, but decent quality video cameras, to provide evidence of crimes going on right outside their homes. From drug deals, to prostitution, you could publicize license plate numbers, and use the CONFIDENTIAL footage to help build cases against those breaking the law and actually crack down on crime in Canton.
Community support must be there for any of these type of programs to succeed. I would hope that Canton would hold informaional meetings in all the wards to have actual dialogue with the citizens. To target what each sector of the city needs to be a better and safer place to live. To sign up residents to help.
I also hope they would first have police explain the laws to them, over what is and isn’t legal in the Community Policing Initiative. Citizens’ Arrests (very rare, I believe) should not be encouraged, as it’s a good way to get hurt, or hurt someone and have them sue you.
The plain fact is that an armed and conscientious citizenry deters crime. I’ve done a lot of reading on a lot of subjects, and gun control is one of them. It doesn’t work. Criminals will always be able to procure a gun, and part of the reason we have such a low crime rate in this country is because of the gun that MIGHT be in the bedside table. If you look at Australia, which has been anti-gun for years (they even have fancy laws that say a gun and its ammunition must be XX feet away from each other and always stored under lock and key). They’ve also been destroying guns for years over there. So what happens? Young hooligans break into elderly folks’ homes because they are CERTAIN these people have no way to defend themselves. In the U.S. though, criminals usually don’t go breaking into occupied homes at night, for fear of the old ‘shotgun enema.’
Now, if you want to scream about children and how they will inevitably slaughter each other if they even see a gun in the home, I call horseshit. The NRA has a very effective “Eddie Eagle” or whatever it’s called program, that teaches kids the first thing you do if you find a gun is to go get a responsible adult. But kids without any safety training will usually play with it and point it at each other and pull the trigger.
The only reason the child death rate is so high (due to gun induced homicide) is that people with no common sense slant the facts and the studies to make it so. Did you know that children includes everyone up to the age of 19, and all drug violence as well. When you exclude these statistics, and put it down to accidental death by guns, SWIMMING and BICYCLING each kill more kids every year than “dangerous guns,” so where are the parents’ groups trying to outlaw those killer activities?
Coded trigger locks, when used properly, can prevent many of those very few accidental shootings in this country.
I forget which book I swiped these facts from, and they are facts. I would credit it if I knew. Anyway, police officers actually LOVE an armed and conscientious populace. The shooting rate for police is much higher than the shooting rate of private citizens with guns, because the police are always forced to act, whereas a citizen has a choice to get involved or not get involved in a situation.
The citizens of Canton, Ohio, do not all need to be packing heat to deter criminals, they just need to be encouraged to do so, and make sure it’s widely publicized. I’ve heard that some of the most polite people you’ll find reside in towns that are ‘open carry,’ and I don’t really suggest we take it that far, but it’s definitely a working deterrent in some areas.
Also, to those who would try to claim that ‘increased guns on the street lead to increased violence,’ I say: ‘only in certain cases.’ Increased guns in law-abiding citizens’ hands increase defense. Increased illegal guns all over the city increase the chances of gun violence.
I’d like to tell you a little story that was told to me once by a college professor, paraphrased of course.
“Back in the day, in the Middle East, there were a bunch of terrorists that wanted to kill a whole bunch of people (be they Jews, or another sect of religion or whatever). So they gave them guns and stories of martyrdom and sent them to the market square. The terrorist pulls out his gun and *pop*pop*pop*, shoots three people of the hated ethnicity/religion, and panic ensues. But by the time he goes to pull the trigger again, the local shopkeeper has emptied his skull with his personal weapon. See, that’s the reason they use RPGs and automobiles for shrapnel bombs, because their gun idea failed miserably at killing and maiming as many people as possible. Plus, with the ready availablity of weapons over there, many citizens are armed for personal defense.”
Anyway, I’ll debate anyone who wants to disagree with me on these points in the comments, as long as they are respectful, with cogent arguments, I’ll promise you the same in return. Granted, I’ve not provided a tonne of useful links in this post, but the proof is out there for anyone who cares to look with an open mind. Of course I don’t really expect any responses, seeing as how I’ve been neglecting this blog a bit, but hey, what can I say, life has been hectic. More posts that would benefit Canton, Ohio are coming soon.
Nothing Fancy, Moving On
No ironic picture, and no fancy ‘I told you so’ here. This is just a simple post to bring everything down to a simmer with the Redflex situation in the City of Canton.
I am still itching to start the petition to outlaw photo enforcement in Canton, Ohio. I suppose though, I can promise not to embarrass the Mayor further by rubbing salt in the open wound. The citizens have spoken, and the words are “no cameras.” Let’s hope he’s got the listening hat on.
Steve McKinney has been invaluable in getting the facts about the way Redflex (and other system operators’ schemes work, and how they fail). You should check out his in-depth coverage @ http://www.cantonredlightcameras.com if you haven’t already.
I’ve been a little busy, so I didn’t know about the March 17th meeting that the City Council Members (and Mayor apparently) had. I’m happy the citizens turned out in such numbers and voiced their opinions against the Red Light Camera scheme.
I was all set to help join all the anti-photo enforcement groups together to stop HB 2 or get it repealed because our State Legislature was trying to put Photo Enforcement Radar Speed Cameras out in construction zones all over Ohio. At $300 a pop, that’s an expensive reminder not to speed in construction zones, and unnecessary too! People do slow down in construction zones, many times they are empty, but with that scheme, it wouldn’t cost them anything to sit someone in a vehicle doing paperwork and call the construction zone “occupied” so they could rack up the fines.
Anyway, since that looks like it’s a dead issue (so far), I’ve decided to move on to a series of posts with ideas of what could really be done to help improve the City of Canton. I could have gone negative and reported on all the shenanigans and political fighting and such that’s going on with the Mayor, Council, etc, but I feel that The Stark County Political Report is doing an excellent job thoroughly covering those stories, as well as reporting on the conflict of interest and The Repository’s kinda sorta softball coverage of anything to do with Mayor Healy. I alluded to having suspicions about their coverage of the Redflex issues in my previous blog post, but I didn’t expect the truth to out so quickly!
Anyway, I’ve got a minimum of five good blog posts about how A Mayor could help to turn the City of Canton around. Maybe more than that, so check back later to read some zany common sense ideas from yours truly, Nicholas Cincinat.
Thanks for reading, hope to see you back here soon (no I am not spying on you! I only know how many views my blog gets in a month! That’s all).
Canton Red Light Camera Civil Code Vote Delay and Repository Editorials
The vote on Canton’s proposed civil code language has been delayed until March 23rd, as I’m sure you know from reading the Repository, or checking up on the issue on The Canton Red Light Cameras Blog.
This is so that the Mayor, William J. Healy II, can try to somehow muddle the issues and come up with some sort of compromise. I’m sorry, but there is no compromise to be had. Red light cameras are a true “black and white issue,” there are no shades of grey. You are either for freedom from surveillance and “gotcha” enforcement of traffic laws, or you are for abusing and terrorizing the citizenry and motoring visitors that drive in your “fair” City.
Finally, I have some words about The Repository’s current coverage of the red light camera issue. Initially, Bob Russ and Charita Goshay came out with opinion pieces that rightly called the city out on its greed. But after they covered the informational meetings and got some good information out there (as well as some quotes from yours truly), their direction on the camera issues changed quite inexplicably.
I can’t say why they reversed their opposition of these systems, but maybe it was a simple case of “management” overriding the employees. I don’t have any sort of inside line to The Repository, or their reporters, and I have considered calling them to ask, but don’t know that I would get a 100% open and honest answer on what would be perceived as “belligerent questioning.”
I am not accusing The Repository of any impropriety, but would like to engage in some wild speculation as to what may have gone on behind the scenes.
1. Redflex sees the veritable poo-storm unleashed by residents’ vehement opposition to red light cameras, and decides ‘we have to do something or we’ll lose this contract.’
2. So they contact The Repository, whose main editorial backed off the hard-line anti-camera sentiments of its opinion writers, and floated the idea “Let’s try these cameras for a year.”
3. Then they receive a prepackaged article full of graphics and explainations of “how the system works” to run on the front page in Sunday, March 8th’s edition. Much like how many news channels will receive pre-packaged news stories from marketers and even the government.
The article “Red or Green” was not posted on the website until Monday though, maybe an “honest oversight” or maybe deliberately held back so that many, many negative comments could not be added before the supposed Council vote on the issue that was to take place Monday night.
In the editorial on TTAC (the truth about cars.com), it was pointed out how Redflex and ACS executives have never received (or never paid) violations from their own sysem, but have violations from each other, and they detailed the story of one Michael Ferraresi, who:
has been through a revolving door with the Australian camera vendor and the Arizona Republic newspaper. After writing stories about the company for the Republic, Redflex hired Ferraresi to be spokesman– often speaking to his former colleagues at the paper about the company. Ferraresi is once again reporting for the Republic, a paper that offers enthusiastic editorial support for the use of speed cameras and red light cameras.
So one of my questions would have been, “Were there any offers from Redflex to a certain reporter who seems to be supporting these fraudulent ticketing systems for such an ‘ambassadorship’ job? Or was The Repository paid or otherwise influence to come out in favor of the cameras?”
I’m not making these accusations seriously, I’m just playing “what if,” but this exercise does raise some very valid points. I don’t know why all three bodies, The Mayor, The City Council, and The Repository might betray the public’s trust by reccommending flawed, dangerous, and illegal systems such as these (uh yeah, finding people guilty without due process and ‘prosecuting’ people with a system of ‘guilt until proven innocent’ directly contravenes the U.S. Constitution, therefor, illegal, no matter what the apologists say). Oh, I’m sorry, yes I can think of one reason for all these people who should be living up to their responsibility of respecting and defending the rights of the citizenry would commit to such a repugnant policy; Money.
Time and time again, these cameras and their support systems have been found to violate the due process rights of the motorists caught by them, have been set with too short of an amber signal, have been caught not having any review by police officers, and increased accidents, etc. The problems seem to be endless. If the Canton City Council won’t send these frauds packing, then the people will stop the cameras through a petition or whatever other means necessary, and they will send those members of City Council that were blind and deaf to the wishes of their constituents, even if it means recalling them (which would be easy to do folowing the passage of any contract with Redflex, even if after re-election).
That’s all for now. More, as it develops, my three loyal readers.
(Redflex) Canton Ohio Traffic Enforcement Cameras: Frequently Asked Questions Part 2: What (if)
Sooo, no matter how many red lights I run, and no matter how fast I go in a school zone, as long as I pay the fine, there are no other penalties?
Awesome! I think the unrestricted speed in my ’94 Taurus Wagon is 134mph. Let’s see if I can hit that in a school zone in Canton and get a Redflex ticket for it.
Hey, as long as nobody creams a school-kid, there’s no problem with any speed they’re doing, as long as they can pay. Now that’s safety!
Next, we have this:
So, you have to “rat” on whomever was driving your car, signing a sworn statement pointing the finger at some other party.
Or you are automatically guilty of the violation. Wow, guilty until proven innocent, a prosecutor’s wet dream.
Never mind the fact that you can blame your violations on your minor child or relative and tell them to refuse to pay. As far as I know, they can’t collect any such civil judgments against a minor, so go nuts, people
Precautions are for sissies. Precautions don’t feel good, they might get in the way of our pleasure of collecting on our fabricated tickets. Especially the ones like the guy that got a ticket for over 130mph in a truck that had a top speed of 99mph NEW!
Yes they claim they will have Canton Police Department officers reviewing the tickets, but they’ve been caught NUMEROUS times violating this promise in various states and even Canada. Issuing all sorts of tickets with no review what-so-ever. Chillicothe was one of the locations ( according to quarterwave).
Well then.
This first point is one I can’t really take an issue with. According to their claims (uh, how far can they be trusted anyway) the system doesn’t trigger unless you cross the line after the light turns red.
But I will take huge issue with their assertion that “we don’t ticket on legal right on red turns.” There are a huge number of cases where this was found to be false.
The short answer is: “Yes, you will always receive a ticket, no matter how legal your actions were. Enjoy forking your money over and don’t even try to think about fighting it.”
Let’s continue, shall we?
(Redflex) Canton Ohio Traffic Enforcement Cameras: Frequently Asked Questions Part 3: When & Where
Yeeehaw. Keepsakes.
Yes!!! Because it should always be up to me to prove my innocence. Guilty until proven innocent, has a nice authoritative ring to to, doesn’t it? Silly WedFwex, the Constitution is fowr viowating!
Anywhere we want! Fixed or mobile! Busy intersections, CHA-CHING!
I think state guidelines specify that yellow light timings are required to be 1 full second above the normal “recommended minimum” timing on all lights with traffic enforcement cameras. Good luck enforcing that regulation against these lying thieves.
Well, at least they’re letting everyone know where to target protests! Picket signs block cameras really well don’t they? One would think.
More ahead.
(Redflex) Canton Ohio Traffic Enforcement Cameras: Frequently Asked Questions part 4: Why
Money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, MONEY! That’s why!
The research you “conducted” wasn’t very thorough. I’d say it went so far as listening to the sales pitch of Mr. Rosenberg from Redflex, and completely ignored all the real safety concerns with these systems. Then you got hundreds of calls from angry constituents in your Wards, and did some actual research and reading on the subject and found out, hey, these things are bad, and the company that sells them is full of really bad people!
Every day, those hundreds of motorists run those red lights and speed, and for the most part, no one gets hurt! Shock! Horror! Nooooooooo…
If everybody else had a lobotomy, would you get one too? The only thing these traffic cameras “work” at is stealing money from motorist and putting them in increased danger of getting rear-ended.
We don’t have $1.6 million to purchase 20 cameras (they cost $80,000 each, or up to $120,000 per camera for the advanced ones), nor do we have the funds to operate the system. Plus they are of dubious legality, and we can’t afford the lawsuits. So we’ve hired these thugs to do it for us! See, everyone benefits, except those pesky motorists.
Small portion? Up to half of a $125-150 fine is not a small portion of anything, it’s unmitigated GREED.
Expensive system, more fines, bigger system or adjusted light times to cause more violations if revenues decrease. $20 million projected earnings depending on the city in the first year, yeah, it’s about safety and just recouping costs of operating and maintaining these cameras.
Onward we go, keep up, we’re almost there!
(Redflex) Canton Ohio Traffic Enforcement Cameras: Frequently Asked Questions Part 5: How
Sure, they claim the signs will be posted, but according to our friend Quarterwave in Chillicothe, “They also have refused to erect the proper signage.” Yeah, I think there should be a little bit of skepticism by now.
Here is a Haiku:
No signage present.
Redflex makes many more crash
People sad and hurt.
Anyone who wants to get out of a fine, legitimate violation or no, has two options.
Reassigning Violations to minor children with driver’s licenses, and telling them not to pay it, or just not paying anything to the company and City of Canton. They can’t DO anything to you except make one black mark on your credit report, or eventually try to come after you to garnish your wages.
Administrative Hearing in our Kangaroo Court. You can protest all you want, but you are guilty until proven innocent with these photos being supposed proof that you definitely were behind the wheel of your car. I’ve read (I’ll track down a link eventually) that a certain jurisdiction was allowed to tack on an extra $65-75 on top of the fine just for the hassle of actually having to try you in court! I think I read somewhere else (I’ll track it down if I’m able) that in one court, you had to PAY the violation BEFORE you were allowed to fight/contest it! Talk about a racket!!!
Anyway, when a petition is successful to get the issue on the ballot to kick the photo enforcement villains out of town, the people who refused to pay the civil fines generally are not responsible for them anymore, but the people who knuckled under to these thugs don’t get their moneys back. How fair is that?
Actually, all they have on their website is the same information in this pamphlet and the same questions. The most telling part of this is the legalese at the bottom. But if it were honest it should read “This brochure was created FOR the City of Canton with lies and manipulated statistics from Redflex Traffic Systems, Inc.
And I think that a public brochure can be reproduced for informative purposes. They were handing these out free at the meetings, so hopefully there should be no issue with my reposting the content here. Proper attribution was given, and really, I could claim that I’ve used the content for parody purposes, so the copyright can’t really be enforced against me.
Now don’t you feel safer already?
Redflex Perjury and 24/7 Monitoring
http://camerafraud.wordpress.com/2009/01/27/taxes-lies-and-videotape/
Rosenberg FALSELY claimed that Redflex’s camera systems DO NOT record 24/7, when explaining their system to residents of Canton, OH.
Redflex was apparently answering questions from the Arizona state legislature over the matter of HB 2106 , and Redflex committed perjury. Any lying or falsification in court constitutes perjury, but where you or I would be fined or thrown into prison for perjuring ourselves in a court of law, Redflex gets a free pass. The DPS (department of public safety) contradicted Redflex’s testimony that “the cameras do not record information 24/7.” This is domestic spying, plain and simple. I don’t care if the footage is never accessed, it IS sent back to Redflex, and kept for “an indeterminate amount of time.” Such abuse of the public trust cannot be allowed to stand. These private contractors and public officials are enriching themselves off of the backs of the citizens who have told them, time and time again, that we do not want these systems on our roadways.
Aaron Rosenberg also cited the completely debunked study from Oxnard, CA in his final presentation, stating that fully 85% of the residents supported the red-light ticketing schemes, and were happy with their implementation. I resisted correcting him loudly, but just barely.
Redflex spokesman Aaron Rosenberg stated at the last informational meeting in Canton, OH, that “You have no right to privacy in your car on public roads.”
Apparently the Constitution means nothing to these lying fraudsters.
There’s a bit in that Constitution that American citizens should be “secure in their persons and property.” Now one might argue that the intent of that law is to keep the government from stealing your freedom and possessions from you. But I think Castle doctrine could be stretched to include your automobile. If a man’s house is his castle, then his car is his carriage, and the wanton spying on and shaking down of motor vehicle OWNERS constitutes nothing but THEFT, just like roving gangs of bandits (in the medieval ages. Unlike the fictional Robin Hood, these fixed and roving thieves are robbing from the poor and destitute motorists to enrich their multinational holding company, as well as the greedy, rapacious, revenue-hungry state and local governments.
http://camerafraud.wordpress.com/2009/01/22/were-taping-you-247/
There you go, concrete proof that these villains are streaming video around the clock. Recording innocent citizens, not just capturing still images of violators as they claim.
Then, they go as far as adding cameras to TAPE THEIR OWN CAMERAS!
http://camerafraud.wordpress.com/2009/02/27/redflex-cameras-to-watch-cameras/
Nevermind that these cameras can be disabled in the same way the speed and red light cameras are (with yellow sticky notes), this is nothing but spying, spying, spying! Your freedoms and rights are being stolen away from you in the name of greed veiled by the dubious assertion of “safety!”
From my favorite comic book, Transmetropolitan, “Go listen to his address. Note down his lies. There will be many, so clear some memory on that hand-held of yours. Then go home and write an article that’ll make his eyes bleed and his sphincter collapse.”
With this in mind, I will be dissecting the informational pamphlet that was distributed at these informational meetings in my next posts. You know, the one that was riddled with inaccurate assumptions and outright lies about Canton’s need for the “safety” of these red light camera systems.
Stay tuned, both of you, my cherished, loyal readers.
Redflex, Canton Ohio, and red light cameras uncensored
Warning! Graphic accident footage. Not for the squeamish, may be NSFW!
The above video was taken at the last informational meeting for the city of Canton, OH’s proposed Redflex Camera Initiative. The pedestrian, which was crossing on a don’t walk signal, was pronounced dead at the scene, but was later revived, so there were no fatalities in this accident.
I attended the first meeting of the four they held in Canton, as well as the last, where I filmed that clip. I had called ahead to make sure I would be allowed to attend the first meeting, especially as I am not a city resident. They are probably regretting allowing me to attend and ask questions by now.
A few things I want to make clear. I acted, probably more than a bit, like an ass at that first meeting. I’d like to sincerely apologize here, and I had already half-apologized to Mayor Healy, and Mr. Rosenberg, the Redflex salesman in the comments from the newspaper article I was quoted in.
Secondly, I do not have any children of my own, the ones I was quoted as being worried about were my brother’s three beautiful kids, that love to hang out with their “Uncle Nick,” and also enjoy riding in the ‘way-back’ jumper seats in my station wagon(s). I will admit that I became more than a little emotional, and I increased my volume to try not to let my voice crack when I yelled that ‘any increased accidents and injuries would be their fault.’
Thirdly, I was utterly negligent in accusing the Redflex representative of his company and employees committing various crimes such as deleting ticket violations for the CEO or other executives. Never happened. The article I read basically stated that ‘Redflex and ACS ticketing systems have the ability to make sure their employees are not issued violations.’ I will be linking these, and many more articles in this blog soon.
I would like to point out that I did attend the final informational meeting at the North Branch of the Stark County Library. At no point did I interrupt the meeting. I didn’t make any speeches, or try to get myself on WEWS Channel 5 News, which was there covering the meeting. I was not permitted to speak, as there were plenty of extremely concerned residents attending, and I fully understand their reluctance to let me do any more damage to their cause, ESPECIALLY since I had thrown around such unfounded allegations before. I may have made some snide comments directed towards the ears of the persons seated around me, but I’m sorry, it’s hard for me to hold my tongue in the face of outright deception.
Well, since then, I’ve done the research I should have completed before the meetings on these systems, and I have no excuses to offer other than laziness, and procrastination, for my previous mistaken allegations. I have found concrete, verifiable problems though, and proof that Redflex blatantly violated State and Federal laws. As any company would be severely remiss not to send Cease & Desist letters to any website or newspaper that reported anything untrue about them, lest their image be irreversibly tarnished, I believe the sources I’ll be using are completely trustworthy, and reporting the full truth of the matters of Red Light Camera Systems.
Now, at the conclusion of this editorial I wrote for TTAC, I stated that I’m starting a petition to put the red light camera issue before the voters. It is due by August 20th of this year (2009), but I hope to file the signatures much earlier than that.
I will be dissecting the arguments made by Canton, and Redflex in this, my personal blog, as well as updating the status on the efforts to get a petition filed so that the voters can decide whether or not they need these types of systems in Canton, OH.
There is also another Canton Red Light Camera Blog. I do not know the gentleman who is currently running that website, but I am glad that others are now giving the issues some of the attentions they deserve.
In the interests of full disclosure, I am going to confess that I, Nicholas Cincinat, have had red light and stop sign “violations” in the past. Each and every one of these was paid for, by me, and while I may have groused about them a little at the time, I admitted my mistakes, and owned up to them. A couple of the violations I have perfectly reasonable excuses for why I absolutely HAD to ‘run the red light,’ and for the rest, I have nothing but explanations. The city of Canton, OH, Redflex, or some pro-camera citizens group may try to use these against me in a smear campaign to try to paint me as a “dangerous driver” or “scofflaw,” so I wanted to get this out there now, for everyone to see that I have nothing to hide. I have only ever been in one accident in the past, which I was not at fault for. Also, even Mr. Rosenberg admitted to having red light or speeding violations in the past so let’s keep things on the real issues which are the Company and the Cameras.
Anyway, I hope that the citizens of Canton Ohio will be permitted to decide this issue, based on the facts, for themselves. Thanks to both of the people who got lost and ended up here for reading this.