Cameras on red get Hoffman Estates OK

Drivers cruising through Hoffman Estates should see red-light cameras at five intersections this summer.

The village board on Monday approved installing the cameras, with Trustee Raymond Kincaid casting the only vote against the action. Trustee Cary Collins was not present.

Cameras will be installed at Higgins and Barrington roads, Higgins and Roselle roads, Golf and Barrington roads, Golf and Bartlett roads, and Golf and Sutton roads.

The contract is going to American Traffic Systems Inc., whose clients include Cook County and New York City.

Tickets would cost $100 and swell to $200 if left unpaid after 100 days.

There's no doubt the revenue - projected at a maximum $365,000 per year for each direction of traffic monitored - will help the village get through the economy, which has forced police layoffs. The village is also looking for a cash stream to help out its ownership of the Sears Centre, hoping to avoid a property tax increase.

Out of $365,000, the village would get $312,320. Of that, the village wants to give 20 percent to the police department and 80 percent to the general fund.

But police Chief Clinton Herdegen again focused on safety and defended the controversial cameras.

"I want to assure the residents of Hoffman Estates that we are going to do this the right way," he said.

Herdegen stressed a police employee would review each ticket and that tickets would be issued only to drivers who "totally disregard red lights," not those whose vehicles barely cross the white stop line.

There are also no plans to issue tickets for right-turn violations, though the village is looking at adding cameras at two intersections where right turns on red are already prohibited.

The village hopes to install cameras in 90 to 120 days, pending Illinois Department of Transportation approvals, and has yet to determine how many cameras will be installed at the intersections.

Kincaid has always voted against the cameras. He said he wanted the village to wait until the state legislature voted on the matter and gave municipalities something to follow.

The cameras would be able to record only vehicles and license plates, but Herdegen said they could be useful to track criminals during major crimes. He said he was aware of the controversy surrounding the cameras and pledged to "design the village's program around those concerns to help alleviate them."

Cameras: Two along Higgins, two along Golf