Speed camera stolen in a fast one

The camera has a global positioning system that could help locate it.
By TIM YOVICH
Vindicator Trumbull Staff
GIRARD -- A butt of jokes, fodder for talk shows and a subject of lawsuits and arguments has been pilfered.
The infamous Girard speed camera, which has brought $85,000 into city coffers from speeders since August, was reported stolen Wednesday morning.
Although the camera was replaced not long after it went missing, the theft is the talk around city hall and municipal court.
Some people couldn't believe it.
Atty. James Denney's eyes widened with disbelief when informed the camera was gone. Denney is adamantly against use of the camera.
"Thank God," the Girard lawyer who has law offices on South State Street said as he looked up to the heavens and crossed himself. "We're going to have a party tonight."
All gone
The camera, along with its accompanying radar unit and battery pack, was reported stolen about 5:45 a.m. after David Forester, a technician with Maryland-based Traffipax, found it was removed from inside its protective shed at South State Street and Trumbull Avenue.
Forester told police the padlock to the shed was missing, and a tire track that appeared to be made by a large truck was visible.
The unit has an alarm and global positioning system, or GPS, so it can be located. A spokesman for Traffipax could not be contacted Wednesday afternoon to determine if the unit was found.
The city had the system installed Aug. 8, 2005, to record speed violations. Offenders pay a fine by mail, and the violation is a civil offense that carries no points on a driver's license.
Safety measure
Mayor James J. Melfi has argued that the camera was set up as a safety measure for slowing traffic.
Some question the constitutionality of the system.
Denney represents Daniel Moadus Jr., a former city councilman recently re-elected to the 4th Ward, in a lawsuit alleging that the camera has nothing to do with safety. Rather, Moadus says it's an "un-American spy camera" used as a "revenue-generating tool."
Attys. Brian P. Kish and David Betras of Canfield, who are representing a Niles woman issued a citation, filed a lawsuit last year arguing that only Girard Municipal Court has the jurisdiction to determine if citations are valid.
Ironically, Betras pleaded guilty Tuesday in municipal court to speeding. He was nabbed in December traveling 92 mph in a 65 mph zone on state Route 11 in Vienna. He paid a $100 fine.
Despite the legal seriousness, the theft generated light-hearted comments.
"The camera has been kidnapped," Melfi said, noting he wasn't advertising its loss to the public.
He pointed out that Traffipax has multiple cameras for such cases to replace those that are stolen.
Camera for the camera
One city official suggested the answer was to install another camera -- to watch over the speed camera.
A court official asked, tongue in cheek, if the thieves had contacted the city with their ransom demand.
A police officer thought it would be funny if the thieves took the camera around the world, taking pictures of tourist attractions as the Eiffel Tower and sending them back to the city.
yovich@vindy.com