The Tyranny Of The Red Light Camera

   It hit him suddenly, about midway through his questioning of the young police officer who had taken the stand.

   At first he had paid little to no attention to the officer's bonafides as he was relating them in response to the prosecutor's request, but then the realization that the young officer and the older officer before him, had both stated that their place of employment, the actual building they worked in, was the very building they were in at the moment sparked something in the defendant's brain.

   And that something was ignited further when the defendant caught sight of the look on the Judge's face as he was questioning the young officer. He was asking questions regarding the camera that had been used to take the video of the alleged traffic infraction, and noticed a momentary look of almost parental concern directed by the Judge to the officer, and then a just-as-momentary look of disdain directed toward him, the defendant trying to prove his innocence.

   Then and there he realized that the young officer, despite having stated that he had been trained in the use and functions of the red light camera, had no actual knowledge of it's technical specs, and continuing to ask questions about frame rates, and whether the camera utilized traditional photographic film or videotape, or did it rely on a CMOS or CCD sensor for the recording medium and how large those sensors were, and what the refresh rate of the monitor he observed the video playback on was, and how the bright light of the sunny afternoon the picture was taken on would effect the resolution of the image...was pointless.

   Due to the fact that everyone in the courtroom that was tasked with the prosecution of the case against him worked together...in the same building...for years...the Judge who had momentarily glanced at the young officer with almost motherly concern, the young prosecutor full of vim and vigor, both the younger and older officer who had reviewed the red light camera footage...had most likely sat in this same exact courtroom for the exact same purpose as they were today on countless occasions.

   The defendant mentally threw out his rehearsed arguments based on the yellow light in a 45 mph zone being two seconds shorter than the 6 seconds recommended by the NTSB (due to the possibility of rear-end collisions), and his rehearsed argument that cameras, particularly digital cameras, often blur images or eliminate images altogether due to frame rate and resolution differences, which often made images look slower or faster than they actually were...

   Forget 'confirmation bias' the defendant said to himself..."I'm literally dealing with a family here, and this family is not going to listen to, much less closely exam anything I might present that would exonerate me...I'm toast".

   And so, mentally throwing up his hands he discontinued his questioning of the young officer, declined the opportunity to make a closing argument, listened patiently to the closing argument of the prosecutor, just as patiently listened to the Judge sum up the evidence and facts as presented and declare him guilty as charged, and then walked out of the courtroom and downstairs to the clerk's window where he begrudgingly paid the $75.00 fine.

   The defendant still regarded the day a fun and educational one though, as he loved being in a courtroom and playing the role of an attorney, even though he was aware of how much the odds were stacked against him.