Missouri Police Chiefs Association Endorses Red Light Cameras as Part of Total Traffic Safety Toolbox

(Jefferson City, Missouri) – The Executive Board of the Missouri Police Chiefs Association (MPCA) has formally recognized red light cameras as part of a comprehensive traffic safety enforcement toolbox that should remain available to reduce deaths and injuries on our roads.

In a resolution signed by 40 chiefs who are members of the MPCA Executive Board, the association declared that “utilizing technology to allow for the re-allocation of resources to immediate and officer-required specific public safety issues should not be discouraged but encouraged and recognized as effective resource allocation.”

About 30 Missouri municipalities have red light camera programs. The MPCA has member chiefs whose departments use red light cameras for traffic enforcement, and other chiefs whose departments are not employing the technology. The MPCA believes municipalities should retain local control over decisions about appropriate enforcement technology in their communities.

The resolution says the MPCA “recognizes the potential and has realized the effectiveness of red-light enforcement technology as a tool of a comprehensive effort to address traffic and pedestrian safety and the prevention of injury and loss of life in the state of Missouri.”

The MPCA resolution will be shared with members of the Missouri General Assembly, other advocates for traffic safety and with the citizens of Missouri, to let them know of the support for red light cameras by that leaders of police departments from across the state.

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