HAMMOND | Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. on Tuesday signed off on the controversial red light camera system, making the city the first community in the state to put the program on its books.
Neither McDermott nor Hammond police Lt. Pat Vicari could be reached Wednesday to learn how soon the city plans to implement the system, where cameras take digital photos of vehicles running red lights and their license plate numbers.
Tickets are issued through the mail by the private company operating the system after a review by police. By ordinance, fines of $100 will be assessed and initially treated like parking tickets unless contested, when they become moving violations.
The plan currently calls for the system to be installed at six city intersections, three located in the Hessville area.
Police Lt. Richard Hoyda said Wednesday the targeted intersections were selected through a state-run database available to police.
"The Indiana Criminal Justice Institute has encouraged police jurisdictions to send in crash data as soon as possible," Hoyda said. "Up to 80 percent of (police departments) are reporting."
Hoyda said Vicari searched for the intersections showing the highest number of accidents, which Hoyda said indicate the places at most risk for injury.
"Red light running" legislation has failed to become law in the state of Indiana despite numerous attempts by supporters, particularly in the state Senate.
Within the last 30 days, the city of Gary has requested state Sen. Earline Rogers, D-Gary, to ask the office of Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter for an opinion on the program's legality before the city attempts to create a local ordinance as has Hammond.
On Wednesday, Councilman at large Robert Markovich said he will ask lawmakers representing Hammond to initiate a similar request.
"If we need something like that to make it legal, we need to get them moving," said Markovich, who overall supports the measure though he voted against approving the ordinance.
Markovich's objections to the ordinance had focused on the cost of running into legal hurdles.
