A senior District of Columbia official boasted that his city’s parking enforcement is as powerful as the IRS, one of the many details revealed by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) in a new audit.
D.C. collected $171.7 million in parking fines and speeding-camera tickets in 2013, according to the audit, released Monday. The OIG found numerous problems with the city’s speeding-cameras, including workers who randomly issue tickets without proper evidence.
"One of the beauties of parking, it’s like the [Internal Revenue Service]," one senior official told the OIG. "If you get a parking ticket, you are guilty until you have proven yourself innocent. … That has worked well for us."
"The attitude behind this twist on accepted jurisprudence—that the burden of proof rests with the ticketed motorist—is also seen in a number of the key findings of this report," the OIG said.
The report noted that the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) issues tickets "even in those instances when it cannot conclusively identify the speeding vehicle" in images depicting multiple automobiles.
The OIG also questioned a report released by the city in January that approved all of the 241 planned new locations for speeding cameras, despite a lack of safety concerns in many areas.
For instance, "At 194 of the 241 (80 percent) planned or proposed speed camera locations, the average speed of the vehicles observed during the DDOT-commissioned study was at or below the posted speed limit."
The OIG said the District Department of Transportation’s (DDOT) report did little to "instill public trust that speed cameras are installed by the D.C. government to improve safety and not just increase local revenues," which was its stated goal.
"[T]he study created the opposite effect when it concluded that deployment of automated speed enforcement equipment was justified at every one of over 300 existing, planned, or proposed locations that were studied," the OIG said.
The report found that the speed camera technology currently being used is not adequate to determine which vehicle is in violation when more than one is present, leaving MPD contractors to make a judgment call.
The OIG said those decisions lack "precision and certainty," and "appear somewhat arbitrary."
"Earlier this year, MPD deployed speed camera technology that it says is able to positively identify the violating vehicle," the audit said. "While this new technology sounds like a positive enhancement to the District’s ATE program, the reality is that the District often issues speeding tickets without conclusive identification of the violating vehicle."
One contractor told the OIG that when they review a photograph with two vehicles they issue a ticket on the basis that the violating vehicle is "usually the closer one."
"In many situations, one or two speed camera images cannot tell an accurate story, and when such situations are left to a reviewer’s interpretation and judgment, arbitrary and erroneous ticketing decisions will result," the OIG said. "Once the ticket is issued, however, the onus is on the recipient to disprove an erroneous interpretation of events, or simply pay the fine."
Overall, parking enforcement officers issued 1.4 million tickets for 130 different types of parking violations, while speed and red light cameras issued 666,275 tickets. The city collected $82.8 million from parking, and an additional $88.8 million from camera tickets.
Compared to other cities, D.C. has "virtually no restrictions" on its "burgeoning" red light and speed camera ticketing systems, according to the OIG.
The city has no limits on when, where, or how many cameras are used, unlike Virginia, Maryland, California, or New York City. D.C. also does not require signs notifying drivers of the cameras, and has no legal regulations for how long images can be stored or whether images will remain confidential.