Cedar Rapids police chief: Proposed camera ban bill 'ludicrous'

CEDAR RAPIDS - Senate Republicans are sponsoring a bill to ban cameras that monitor speeding and red-light violations in Iowa. But the Cedar Rapids police chief said getting rid of the cameras would turn back the clock on driver behavior in the city.

“The system works,” police Chief Greg Graham said in an interview Friday afternoon at Cedar Rapids police headquarters. “To take it away is ludicrous.”

Graham has maintained, for months, that driver behavior has changed for the better in Cedar Rapids.

“Our studies show that 99 percent of the people who drive through Cedar Rapids abide by the law and the average speed is 55.3 miles per hour,” Graham said about the traffic on Interstate 380, where the speed limit is 55. “One percent of the driving population that drives through Cedar Rapids is up in arms because they are being held accountable.”

Sen. Brad Zaun, R-Urbandale, the bill's lead sponsor, said Thursday he had heard “numerous complaints” about the traffic cameras from people in his Senate district. He also said he got a Cedar Rapids speeding citation for a vehicle that is registered to him but that one of his sons was driving at the time.

Graham said he has been in a similar situation.

“All the cars I own are in my name,” Graham said. “I got a ticket. My son was driving that car. Who paid the ticket? My kid paid that ticket. I didn't pay it. Whoever it is, is upset their kid got a ticket. They need to hold their kid accountable.”

Brandon Jolly of Hiawatha said he has gotten three speeding citations in the mail from Cedar Rapids. His issue isn't with the enforcement of the law, but how quickly a person finds out they committed a crime.

“I know it really bothered me that it was six weeks after the fact,” Jolly said of his first citation. “Having that police officer at your window sits with people deeper, and getting a ticket in the mail frustrates people. Their behavior changes for the wrong reasons.”

Yet Graham insists behavior, on the roads in Cedar Rapids, has changed dramatically. He pointed to no deadly crashes in the “S-curve” on I-380 since the cameras went live.

“We are going to go back to two fatalities a year in the S-curve,” if the cameras are banned, Graham said.

He also pointed to this week's snowstorm. Instead of dozens of crashes, as in previous major weather events, Graham said his staff was not spending dozens of hours sorting out wreckage.

“This last storm, which was worse than all of the other ones, we only worked eight crashes. You tell me traffic habits haven't changed.”