Speed cameras shot up hours after going live
By Peyton Spellacy
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SANTA FE, New Mexico (KOAT) — Three speed cameras in Santa Fe, two on Zia road and one on Rodeo Road, were damaged by gunfire just hours after going live Monday morning, but police say the devices are still functioning and issuing citations.
The newly activated cameras issued about 500 citations by 8 a.m. Monday. Two hundred of those citations were generated by a cameras on Zia Road. Just hours later, gunshots damaged the Zia Road camera, though it never stopped working.
“One of them was at Zia Road, which was also our highest violation location, where we recorded a violation of 67mph in a 35mph zone,” Santa Fe’s Interim Police Chief Ben Valdez said.
Valdez said the city brought the cameras back after noticing a lot of dangerous driving following the pandemic. The goal of the program is to change dangerous driving habits and help everyone get to their destinations safely. The city placed three cameras on the east side of Santa Fe and three on the south side.
“As for deployment locations, when we looked at was crash data, speeding complaints and where people have concerns of unsafe driving,” Valdez said.
Valdez noted that the city of Santa Fe owns any data collected by the cameras, not a third party.
“As they know in our contract we have spelled out that the data is the property of the city of Santa Fe, and it’s not being shared with any third parties,” Valdez said.
He also clarified how the technology operates, noting that confusion over the type of cameras being used may be the reason they were targeted.
“First of all, these are not Flock Cameras. Secondly, what the device does is when it detects a speeding violation, it then triggers the recording device which captures the violation, then it stops recording. So they’re not recording street activity 24/7,” Valdez said. “I think because of the concerns nationwide about Flock Cameras, that could be one driving reason. I know some people are not pleased with having these devices up because of privacy concerns.”
Police are now examining shell casings found at the scene to link the bullets and the gun to the shooter.
“In addition, we’re looking at other things such as Ring cameras, surveillance and also information from the public. If someone is out there boasting that, hey, I just damaged these cameras, we intend to file charges and hold them accountable,” Valdez said. “If you’re speeding, it’s a civil penalty for your first time is 50 bucks. Now, if you use a firearm and destroy a camera, that’s a felony offense and it’s going to be more than 50 bucks in penalties are much steeper than the initial violation.”
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