Are Montgomery County’s speed cameras working properly?

A new report suggests Montgomery County, Maryland, is running its traffic camera program in a sloppy way.

The police department does not have written policies on how to make sure the daily required tests of the speed cameras are conducted, according to a Montgomery County Inspector General’s report released in January.

According to the report, that could lead to tickets being dismissed in court in some cases.

“Because Maryland law requires that these records be admitted as evidence in court proceedings it is in the county’s interest that they be accurate, consistent, and fully compliant with the law,” the report stated. “Inconsistent documentation and lack of detail could also lead to diminished program effectiveness and negatively affect the integrity of the program.”

The report is critical of other procedures as well, and suggested the county paid $2.5 million more in 2023 than it should have to the contractor for camera services because it didn’t have a clear picture of how many cameras were capturing valid violations.

“We calculated the monthly prosecutable issuance rate for each month and estimated that cameras issued prosecutable citations in approximately 44% of captured activity,” the report stated.

In a letter, the county acknowledged some of the issues, but pointed out the traffic camera program and other efforts have led to an 11% drop in serious and fatal crashes in the county.

“We are proud of the accomplishments and progress of the automated speed enforcement program,” the county wrote.

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Kyle Cooper

Weekend and fill-in anchor Kyle Cooper has been with WTOP since 1992. Over those 25 years, Kyle has worked as a street reporter, editor and anchor. Prior to WTOP, Kyle worked at several radio stations in Indiana and at the Indianapolis Star Newspaper.

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