Road Safety Cameras Help Solve Crimes
Tempe, AZ – Road Safety Cameras are growing in number and in usefulness as police turn to video and digital images to identify not only traffic scofflaws, but also to solve hit-and-run collisions, assaults and homicides. Now in use in more than 650 communities across the country, authorities are using the technology as another way to supplement their investigations, just as they used the surveillance cameras in chasing down the Boston Marathon bombers.
On average, police from around the country make 225 requests each month to American Traffic Solutions (ATS) for video footage and photographs from road safety cameras. Authorities use the information to identify criminals, vehicles and to help track the whereabouts of suspects and missing persons. ATS has processed more than 8,700 such requests since 2010, with 39 percent of those coming in 2012.
“With red-light and speed cameras in more than 650 communities in North America, ATS is proud to know that police find this technology is helpful in not only reducing dangerous traffic behavior, but also in investigations of other crimes,” said, Charles Territo, ATS Senior Vice President Communications, Marketing and Public Affairs.
Here are just a few examples of crimes that police solved with evidence from road safety cameras:
- In St. Petersburg, Florida, camera footage helped police track a suspected killer. Once caught, the man pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder in February 2013.
- In Surfside, Florida, police used video from a red-light camera to identify the suspect in a rape case. The video showed the man walking behind the woman shortly before the sexual assault. Authorities made their arrest a week after the July 2, 2012 attack.
- Photographs of a suspect’s vehicle helped police in Florissant, Missouri, solve a July 2008 incident that left a young woman shot and killed during a street robbery.
About American Traffic Solutions:
ATS is proud to be the market leader in road safety camera installations in North America. ATS has nearly 3,500 installed red-light and speed safety cameras serving more than 30 million people. ATS has contracts in nearly 300 communities in 21 states and Washington, D.C., including: Fort Worth, Kansas City, Memphis, Nassau County (N.Y.), New York City, Orlando, Philadelphia, Seattle and St. Louis. ATS also offers PlatePass, an automated electronic toll payment service that enables rental vehicle customers to use high-speed, cashless electronic toll lanes. ATS is a privately-owned, U.S. corporation. For more information, please visit: www.atsol.com or www.PlatePass.com. To view video that serves as a chilling reminder of the dangers that red-light runners present to our family and children; visit ATS on YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/user/ATSRoadSafety.
Contact: Charles Territo
Title: Senior Vice President of Public Affairs
and Marketing, Communications
Phone: (480) 443-7000
Email: media@atsol.com
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