Picking your pocket: Sweepercams

WASHINGTON - Money is something everyone is trying to hold onto right now, so why does it seem like local governments are trying to pick your pocket?

This week WTOP takes a look at some of the tricky ways drivers are falling victim to revenue generators around the region.

Part III: Sweepercam and red light cameras

They don't seem like they would be intimidating vehicles, but street sweepers in the District are now armed with cameras and are writing parking tickets.

It works like this:

Street sweepers pass by a residential street that is scheduled for cleaning. If a car is parked illegally along the curb during sweeping hours, the camera on the sweeper snaps a picture of the license plate and a $30 fine is sent in the mail. Drivers have 60 days to dispute the ticket.

"A lot of times we cannot get to the curb because all of the cars haven't moved," Nancee Lyons with the Department of Public Works tells WTOP.

"What we would like is for people to change their behavior so we can get cleaner streets."

If you don't move your car, DPW says you now have a 100 percent chance of getting a ticket.

The sweepercam program started on March 30 and already the city has issued about 2,800 tickets. Right now, seven street sweepers are equipped with the cameras. By May, there will be 12.

When asked about this new program, area drivers called it "absurd."

"That authority should be left to the cops," said one motorist.

D.C. leaders said recently they would like to start enforcing traffic laws around the city more aggressively -- a move that would bring in more than $30 million to help balance the budget.

While the District has started outfitting its streetsweepers with cameras, Arlington is about to outfit its intersections with red light cameras. Arlington's police department officially filed its request with VDOT Tuesday to start a new red light program in the county.

You'll remember that the cameras had been legal in Northern Virginia, then the General Assembly made a U-turn and banned them in 2005. In 2007, the General Assembly brought the program back and now Arlington is set to become the first jurisdiction in Northern Virginia to turn its red light cameras back on.

The fine for running through a red light will be $50, the exact intersections where the cameras will be set up is not yet known.

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