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If you haven't already done so, please read the Murrieta section on the Camera Towns page.

Murrieta Documents (Program Closed)

Some of Murrieta's tickets can possibly be ignored.  If your "ticket" does not have the Superior Court's name and address on it, it is what I call a "Snitch Ticket."  For more details, see the Snitch Ticket section on the Your Ticket page.

A Murrieta resident did an initiative petition to ban the cameras.  See Set # 4, below.

Murrieta Docs Set # 1
Ticket Counts

Violations Recorded, Citations Issued [4]

New 1-11-11, updated 4-15-13

This table made by highwayrobbery.net, using official reports provided by the City under the California Public Records Act.

Official Reports, 2006
Official Reports, 2006 - 2010
Official Reports, 2011
Official Reports, 2006 - 2012
Official Reports, Sep. & Oct. 2012
Official Reports, Oct. & Nov. 2012 [5]

The Murrieta cameras are operated by ATS, using Nestor software.

[  ] indicates a footnote.
[1]  Totals are as provided by the City.
[2]  YTD = Year-to-date total.
[3]  Un-used columns are to allow for later expansion of City's system.
[4]  Except where noted otherwise, the figures given in the table are for the single calendar month indicated.  The figures in red type (or, if you are looking at this table in black and white, the upper figure when there are two or more figures in a cell) are what Nestor calls Violations Recorded, or all incidents recorded by the cameras, and due to time limitations may have been posted here only for selected months or locations.  If there is sufficient public interest, the remaining months will be posted. 
The figures in black type are what Nestor calls Citations Issued, and may be the sum of genuine citations issued (those filed with the court) plus any Nominations mailed (not filed with the court, a.k.a. Snitch Tickets).
Any figures in blue type (and in parentheses) are what Nestor calls Affidavits Approved, which is believed to be
 the number of real tickets and any Nominations (Snitch Tickets) where the initial recipient provided the identity of another driver.  More data about affidavits is available on the official reports, linked above.
[5]  The report for Dec. 2012 contained the same figures as the report for Nov. 2012.  The City's official explanation was, "Please note that the Nov. and Dec. reports are identical because there were no officer approvals after 11/25/2012."
[6]  The info about the direction of enforcement (north, south, east, west, and right or left) was provided by the City.
[7]  The title bar has been repeated solely for the convenience of the reader - there is no difference between it and the one at the top of the table.

Murrieta Docs Set # 2
"Late Time" Tables

  The City provided tables of Late Times, etcetera, for all  of its cameras.
These tables track violations recorded, and in parentheses, tickets issued.
Where there is a large number of long Late Time violations, it is believed to indicate heavy ticketing on right turns.

First Six Months of Operation, 2006
Januarys and Julys, 2006 - 2010
Nov. 2010
2011 - 2012

The picture above is an example of a portion of the table.

  Late Time info is available for more than 50 other cities - see the list in the expanded version of Defect # 9.

Murrieta Docs Set # 3
The Contract, Etc.

The original contract  (staff report) was adopted at the Oct. 18, 2005 city council meeting, on a 4 -1 vote, Councilmembers Enochs, Gibbs, McAllister and Seyarto voting yes and Councilmember Ostling voting no.  During the Public Comments portion of the meeting, Alan Long and Cathy Bearse spoke in favor of the cameras.
The contract includes an illegal "cost neutrality" clause, whereby the city will not have to pay ATS the full rent if there aren't enough fines to cover the cost.  For more info, see Subsection B of the expanded version of Defect # 10.

In 2010 the contract was amended.

The City's contract with ATS was due to expire, so at the city council meeting of Jan. 18, 2011 (staff report) the city council voted to have City staff negotiate to extend the contract for three more years and add two more cameras, to be located at freeway offramps (probably to catch rolling right turns).
There was no Roll Call vote - it was done by "consensus," but Councilmember McAllister appeared to be opposed to the extension, while Councilmembers Bennett, Gibbs, Lane and Long were in favor.

During the meeting, there was this discussion:

Cpl. Froboese was flat wrong.  After a yellow is lengthened, violations drop but do not rebound over time.  See FAQ # 6.  The Murrieta city council is entitled to better advice from City staff.

The initiative (see below) was filed shortly after the council meeting, and the City chose to operate on a month-to-month basis rather than sign an extension.

This list of contracts and amendments may not be up-to-date - there could be a contract or amendment later than the ones listed above.

Murrieta Docs Set # 4
Initiative, Lawsuit, Public Votes to Close, Deception by ATS, ATS/Flynn to Pay 

In 2011, in response to the planned expansion of the program, Murrieta residents started an initiative drive, to put a red light camera ban on the ballot.  The residents obtained enough signatures to put the ban on the November 2012 ballot, but in June 2012 another local resident, Stephen Flynn, with financial backing by ATS (the camera company), filed a petition for writ to force the election officials to remove the initiative from the ballot. 
On August 3 the local Superior Court ruled that the initiative must be removed from the ballot.  The sponsors of the initiative (Serafin and Nielson) appealed that ruling, and the District Court of Appeal issued a temporary stay.

Then on September 18 the DCA issued a writ of mandate, keeping the initiative on the ballot.  Article.

On Nov. 6, 2012, voters overwhelmingly voted (57%) to remove the cameras, despite the fact that the camera company outspent the anti-camera group by 100 to 1.

In late November, ATS' front group filed another petition for writ, to stop the initiative from going into effect.

On December 4 the City decided to close - but not remove - the cameras pending the resolution of the lawsuit.

On Apr. 5, 2013 the Superior Court invalidated the initiative, thus leaving to the city council the decision about whether to continue the program or not.

On April 11 ATS issued a press release claiming a 86.9 percent increase in red light running since Murrieta's cameras stopped issuing tickets in early December 2012. The press release included this graph.

ATS obtained that high percentage by cherry picking the data.  The graph below, made by highwayrobbery.net using the Violations Citable data available in the reports linked in Set # 1 above, shows why ATS' choice to use January - March 2012 as the reference yielded a deceptively high percentage of increase.   Had the 2013 data been compared to data from the latter part of 2012, the percentage of increase would have been half or less of what ATS claimed.

Source Spreadsheet

 Another independent critique of ATS' press release argued that ATS was comparing the wrong data, and that there was little or no post-November increase in running.

The city council discussed the cameras during a closed session on April 16, 2013 then during a May 7 public session voted 4 - 0 to cancel the program and have the cameras removed.
They also said that they would hold a hearing on June 4 to discuss longer yellows.

2014:  Appeal Court Orders ATS/Flynn to Pay

In Nov. 2014 the Court of Appeal ruled:

"The order denying Diana Serafin and Robin Nielson's motion for attorney fees against Stephen Flynn is reversed.  The cause is remanded [back to the local court] for further proceedings on the amount of reasonable attorney fees and costs, and to determine whether a multiplier of attorney fees is appropriate." 

Murrieta Docs Set # 5
Info on the City's Website

The City does not have a red light camera info page on its website.

Murrieta Docs Set # 6
Cameras at Risk?

In June 2012 it was reported that thieves stole components of the camera systems in Cerritos, another ATS customer.

Murrieta Docs Set # 7
More Coming

There may be some more Murrieta information posted in the next few weeks.  Mark your calendar to remind you to come back here and look!

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