Arizona attorney general’s opinion on red light radar operators won’t eliminate the tech

I would like to take a moment and help clarify a HUGE piece of news we covered for you here on KTAR on Monday.

Arizona’s Attorney General Mark Brnovich released an opinion concerning one legality of photo radar, speed traps and red light camera operators.

No, he did not eliminate these pesky brake-checkers. He simply made policies a little tougher for the parties that operate these radars to do business.

(Yes, there are third parties that are involved here. Not all are owned, operated, and maintained by local governments.)

Simply put, these third parties are essentially nerdy hall monitors just waiting to bust the cool kids and report them to the principal!

That’s right, they aren’t even law enforcement. They just report their findings to authorities to be used as evidence in a civil or criminal case.

THAT is where the Attorney General has a problem with this system.

You see, these snitches are — in a very obvious way — acting as private investigators.

Brnovich recognized the legal definition of a private investigator and the scope of work that is contracted to these third parties are almost identical.

So, once again, Brnovich has NOT eliminated photo radar. He is simply requiring that all third-party organizations that are contracted to operate photo radar to go through the process of becoming licensed private investigators.

This wasn’t a crusade against ruining a commuter’s day when they see a camera flash from the side of the road, it was just a leveling of the playing field that we can all hope was the ruination of these third parties’ days.

Ah, the sweet joy of karma!

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