Minneapolis hopes to revive red light cameras that were ruled unconstitutional in 2007
MINNEAPOLIS — The city of Minneapolis wants to enlist some camera cops to cut down on crashes and traffic-related deaths. A similar effort was launched about two decades ago, but a few things would need to happen this time around to give it another go.
In June 2005, the Minneapolis Police Department enlisted some red-light cameras to cut crashes and save lives. They say it worked, but the Minnesota Supreme Court then unanimously decided that the cameras violated state law.
"There's absolutely no doubt that this was an illegal ordinance and the city either knew it or should have known it when it was enacted," Howard Bass, an attorney with the ACLU, said in 2007.
Then-Mayor R.T. Rybak said that he'd hoped that they'd be able to operate the cameras under current laws, but admitted that wasn't the case.
"So now we're going to have to go forward and change the law. We hoped it would work. It didn't," Rybak said.
At the time, the city failed to get legislation passed that would authorize their red-light cameras. But now the city is trying again.
"The city is looking at traffic safety cameras for speeding and potentially for red light-running, so those are two of the safety issues that cause the most challenges," said Ethan Fawley, coordinator of the Minneapolis Vision Zero program.
To do it, the city is working on a bill that they hope will pass in the upcoming legislative session.
"It's very important that we build in at the state level good protections for fairness for equity for privacy," said Fawley.
The city's Vision Zero Action Plan calls out what many drivers may have noticed: Minneapolis Police stopped fewer than 3,000 people in 2021 for moving or equipment violations on the roads. That's down significantly from 2012, when they stopped 90,000 drivers.
The report points out the city's traffic enforcement unit went away in 2013, and that the traffic investigations unit and the police department as a whole are understaffed.
"We are looking at this in Minneapolis, but the bill would provide all cities with this authority," said Fawley.
If the city can get the green light, it will develop a pilot program which would take at least a year. The city's Vision Zero program says the earliest a program could start is the summer of 2025.
Fawley says tickets would be $40 and would only clock drivers going more than 10 miles over the posted speed limits. There would also be signs before the cameras alerting drivers to their presence.
There's an online open house Monday for the public to learn more about this plan and to register their opinions, followed by an in-person open house next week: Monday, Jan. 29 from 5-7 p.m.; Minneapolis Public Service Building, 505 4th Avenue South, Room 100.
