Deceased Baltimore Cop Signs 2000 Red Light Camera Tickets

WBAL-TV11 has reported that 2000 Baltimore City Red Light camera tickets were signed by a police officer who had died months earlier.  The police officer in question had died on September 27th in a tragic accident.  Then a driver who received a citation for allegedly running a red light on January 12, 2011, an acquaintence who was a retired police officer recognized the approving officer's name.  It was later determined that around 2000 citations had been issed with the deceased officer's signature.

Baltimore City Police allegedly review and sign every single red light camera citation before they are issued.  The city police department stated to WBAL that they "do not blanket approve citations".   According to the story, legal experts expressed an opinion that the citations bearing the deceased officer's singature "may be difficult to enforce".  Baltimore City issued 9,300 of the $75 red light camera tickets in January 2011 alone.

The is not the first time Baltimore City's photo enforcement programs have committed errors on a mass scale.  The city recently accidentally flagged 8000 vehicle registrations of people who had received red light camera tickets while they were awaiting hearings.  And in March 2010 it was reported that a single Baltimore City speed camera had issued 932 erroneous tickets after being configured to enforce the wrong speed limit.