SACRAMENTO COUNTY, Calif. — The red light cameras at busy intersections throughout Sacramento city and county are designed to ticket people running red lights, but the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office says that program is over.
The camera at the intersection of Broadway and 21st Street helped Lupe Ortega feel safe while she works at the nearby Pancake Circus. Now the cameras are no longer working and they stopped March 10.
The Red Light Camera Program started in 2011 and cost the sheriff's office $898,000 a year for all cameras at 23 locations throughout the city and county. The sheriff's office says it stopped making sense financially.
"The entire design of the program was to remain cost neutral. This was never designed to be a revenue generator, or worst case scenario, kind of what happened now is where we're losing money from it," said Sgt. Amar Gandhi.
That means drivers are following the rules. The sheriff's office says it still has more than 17,000 open cases from these cameras ticketing people but because the cameras are no longer working, it means those tickets are no longer valid.
"They're all dismissed. We've recommended to the courts to dismiss all the cases, because we no longer have staffing for that bureau to provide any sort of support to the courts for it," said Gandhi.
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The thought of no constant oversight at Broadway and 21st makes Ortega concerned.
"It's a little scary because I feel like now people are going to take advantage of it. They already drive crazy down this road as it is," she said.
While the sheriff's office has no plans on bringing the cameras back anytime soon, they are relying on help from Sacramento Police Department and CHP to help keep the roads safe.
The sheriff's office said the $898,000 used on these cameras will go to fighting retail theft, human trafficking, violent crimes and homelessness.
