Red light cameras serve only as revenue generators
Traffic cameras are indeed for revenue, if not a town’s revenue, definitely for Redflex the company that put up the cameras. Anyone should have a problem with any private company that wants to enforce public laws for a profit.

Even if cameras are put in the name of “safety” or “security” they can and do limit our freedom.
How long before towns ask the company to monitor other things and tie it into databases?

If a town needs revenue, they should do the democratic thing and put it on a ballot referendum, not harass local residents. There’s other ways to raise money besides turning our police departments into income sources to make up budget shortfalls.

We’d be safer if they were out patrolling the streets rather than viewing camera footage. Intersections can also be designed with safety in mind without resorting to cameras.

Finally, I’d like to add the notion of having cameras points to a lack of trust among people in a civil society. We trust each other every day to not cross the yellow lines on the road and obey lights. Cameras won’t stop people who don’t.
Aaron Del Monaco, La Grange

Cops would still work same amount with 12-hour shift
In a newspaper article about cops pushing for 12-hour shifts, the Brookfield village manager said that it resulted in more days off for the officers. It almost sounded like the village was giving these officers some kind of bonus.

Let’s be clear. The officers work the same number of hours each month and each year as they do when they work the eight-hour shift. The only difference is that their time off and time on is arranged in a way that benefits the officers and their family life.

The shift also provides a huge benefit to the village by putting more officers on the street at one time. Although management paid larger amounts of money in overtime last year to keep the same number of officers on the street, if they went to 12-hour shifts, they would not have to.

A simple mathematical exercise bears this out. Twenty-four hours divided by 12-hour shifts equals two; 24 hours divided by eight-hour shifts equals three.

The same amount of manpower is divided less on the 12-hour shifts. If 12-hour shifts are what the 98 percent handful of officers want, and it puts more officers on the street for less money, then why not do it? I support the 12-hour schedule for the Brookfield Police Department.
John Martinec, Brookfield