Camera firm’s history murky

The company picked by a Spokane committee to operate cameras that would catch red-light violators is facing bribery allegations in Canada and has faced other scandals in the United States.

Affiliated Computer Services, which is based in Dallas, was rated as the highest of the three companies that submitted bids to run Spokane’s still nonexistent camera program.

Spokane police Sgt. Eric Olsen, who is heading the effort to start a camera program in Spokane, said he recently learned of the allegations. The committee – comprised of representatives from the Police Department, prosecutor’s office and City Council – will examine the charges before making a final recommendation to City Council, Olsen said.

“It’s definitely something we’re going to look at because we were unaware of it,” Olsen said.

The company was accused last year of giving two police officers in Edmonton, Alberta, free trips and sports tickets in exchange for helping it win a 20-year, $90 million contract for the city’s photo radar system, according to the Edmonton Sun newspaper. The officers face five-year prison terms, the Edmonton Journal reported.

“The city of Spokane should do their due diligence,” said Edmonton City Counselor Mike Nickel, a critic of red-light cameras. Those “who are enforcing the law have to be above and beyond reproach. They have to have a sterling reputation.”

ACS spokesman David Shapiro said the company has more than 7,000 government contracts, including around 50 to run red-light cameras. He said its track record for quality and service compares favorably with other government contractors like Boeing.

“The company regards (the Edmonton charges) as unproven allegations and that the allegations are untrue,” he said.

The Edmonton case is one item on a list of high-profile embarrassments to the company in recent years.

“In March, the Washington Post reported that about half of Washington, D.C.’s red-light cameras, which had been managed by ACS, were out of service.

“In November, the company’s CEO and chief financial officer resigned after they were found to have manipulated grant dates for stock options, the Associated Press reported.

“In 2004, a company vice president was sentenced to 37 months in prison by a federal court in New York for defrauding ACS clients of $3.8 million by inflating customer invoices, court documents say.

Shapiro said reports of problems with Washington, D.C.’s cameras were greatly exaggerated and were brought to light by a competitor of ACS after the city turned over maintenance to the other company.

“It should be taken with a huge grain of salt,” Shapiro said.

He added that other allegations are well in the past and have nothing to do with the company’s camera program – a relatively small component of a Fortune 500 company.

The Spokane City Council is scheduled to vote on May 7 on an ordinance that would allow the cameras. If that’s approved, a company would be chosen to run the program at a later council meeting.

If implemented, cameras likely will be installed at intersections with the highest crash rates, Olsen said. He said he would like to start with a small number of cameras, perhaps enough to monitor a few approaches to intersections.

When vehicles are caught running red lights, car owners would be sent $101 tickets in the mail. Under state law, violations caught by camera cannot become part of a driver’s record, and a judge would be required to toss out tickets of anyone who testifies under oath that they were not driving the car when it ran the light.

City Councilman Bob Apple, who was on the committee that examined camera bidders, said he leans against supporting the program, in part, because he’s concerned the system encourages violators to commit perjury.

“We may be sending the wrong message, and that is to lie,” he said.

Under ACS’ proposal, the city would pay the company $4,250 for each approach or $17,000 for a fully watched intersection. ACS would send violation pictures to police for review. After police examine photos, ACS would be responsible for sending out tickets within two weeks of violations.

If ticket revenue doesn’t cover the cost of the cameras, the city would not be required to pay the difference under ACS’ proposal, Olsen said.

Olsen said photos will track cars to make sure they entered the intersection after the light turned red and weren’t caught in the intersection while waiting to make a left turn.

A 2005 federal study compared crash data between equal periods before and after installing cameras in seven jurisdictions and found that while collisions caused by drivers running red lights decreased by 379 with the cameras, rear-end crashes increased by 375.

Still, those involved in the study said the cameras can be beneficial because rear-end crashes tend to be less serious than the side-impact crashes caused by red-light runners.

Nickel, of Edmonton, believes that the main motive for starting camera programs is to generate revenue.

“It’s nothing more than a cash cow,” he said.

But Olsen noted that in 2006 there were 160 crashes with injuries that were caused by people running red lights in Spokane. He noted other studies that haven’t found increases in rear-end crashes after cameras were installed.

“They are a tool that are important and valuable to increasing the safety to drivers in Spokane,” Olsen said. “My goal behind it is to reduce traffic collisions. It’s not to generate money.”