Cities from across Missouri hope that the Missouri Supreme Court will hear a series of appeals filed in cases challenging the validity of red-light camera ordinances. These inconsistent lower-court rulings have caused uncertainty for municipalities and threaten their ability to pass a wide range of local public safety ordinances beyond red-light cameras.
The Missouri Municipal League (MML), which represents the interests of 674 municipalities, has filed amicus briefs in support of the Missouri Supreme Court hearing the appeals. MML believes the Missouri Supreme Court can provide cities with clear direction and guidance to clear up the conflicting decisions at the court of appeals.
“Local elected officials and law enforcement need the ability to pass and enforce municipal ordinances dealing with public safety,” said Dan Ross, MML Executive Director. “These conflicting lower court rulings have caused uncertainty and threaten to undermine the very system of local control that Missourians strongly support. We hope the Missouri Supreme Court will hear these appeals and provide the cities the guidance they need to improve public safety through local ordinances.”
More than 30 Missouri municipalities, including St. Louis and Kansas City, have local ordinances dealing with red-light safety camera enforcement. As part of every program, the company operating the cameras sends videotape of incidents to local law enforcement, which then independently make terminations about when to issue violations.
While some of these cities continue to enforce these ordinances, others have temporarily suspended their programs due to uncertainty caused by these conflicting court rulings.
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