Last week a judge in Spokane ruled the city’s red-light camera tickets were invalid because the city was using an electronic signature on the tickets instead of an actual signature.
I’m checking with Bremerton to see what the impact might be here. Does anyone locally have a Bremerton ticket handy and can you say whether the signatures are done by hand or machine?
I’d love to know.
In Spokane an officer in Spokane was reviewing the tickets. The officer would authorize a signature, but the actual signature was done by American Traffic Solutions in Arizona. An attorney in the case argued that any signature that carries a penalty of perjury in Washington has to be one generated in Washington.
Steven, The Bremerton Automated infraction tickets are digitaly signed in Arizona by Redflex Inc.
Supposedly Redflex Inc. gathers and prepares the infraction data and then a BPD officers approves of Redflex to issue the ticket. Redflex attatches the signature and date and then issues and serves the ticket by mail from Arizona. The ticket I recieved for running a red light (by 27/100 of seconed) was signed and dated by a Bremerton Police officer (under penalty of purjury). He was not on duty that day. Public Records indicate he is not certified or licensed to use electronic signatures. Washington State law RCW 19.34 is where you will find the laws governing the use of electronic signatures. The process of issuing and serving the ticket is flawed on numerous levels. The City is well aware of the reasons why, as I have brought it to their attention.
I would be happy to discuss this with you in greater detail if you would like more imformation..
john doe, I just received one of these tickets as well (light was supposedly red for 3/5 of a second). The fine is an unbelievable $240. What happened with yours? Did you ignore it, get it thrown out?