The return of red light cameras to St. Louis City has been in the news, both print and TV.  This is the result, particularly, of the rise in traffic fatalities.  It is reported that in several cities and in the past, they were responsible for significant decreases in traffic violations.

It is also reported that these will differ from the previous red light cameras in that they will take pictures of potential violations, the driver's face, and the license plate number.  Adding the driver's face is to enable better results in identifying responsibility as well as protecting vehicle owners not involved.

This news — encouraging to some, discouraging to others — has raised another surprising issue.  In a Post-Dispatch article relating to an aldermanic bill proposal, this comment appeared: "The bill also aims to blunt concerns that the camera system will unfairly burden minority and low-income drivers and that the fines will be used as revenue generators for the city."  In a TV news report following a man describing the new red light cameras, Mayor Tishaura Jones, who was standing by, asked for assurances that they would not impact more non-whites.  These combined questionable statements raise a valid concern, even if sensitive.  And that concern is law and order, and law and order applied equally to all — racially impartial, fair, and just.

The following question is valid, impartial, fair, and just: how can mechanical cameras discriminate based on race (or even sex), be partial, be prejudiced, or be racist?  People may see and discriminate based on a race-based lens, but do mechanical devices also so discriminate?  We all know the answer to that question, don't we?  Is this where we are today?  This is pertinent, as it relates to equal, fair, and just treatment to all.  Admittedly, it is perhaps a delicate issue, but equality of treatment should be objective and not delicate.  Behavior is the issue — not race.  After all, the Civil Rights struggle was about equality and justice — and, to borrow from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s eloquent speech, to "content of character."

Too often in law-and-order incidents where behaviors are primarily involved, attention has been drawn away from the conflicting behaviors to race.  And, unfortunately, following such transference of attention, anger, rage, property destruction, financial loss, and mayhem have occurred, where many innocent people of all races have suffered terribly.

Cameras objectively reveal facts and behaviors.  Revealing race is secondary and only peripherally incidental.  When it comes to obeying traffic laws, race should not be an issue. Justice should always be equal, fair, and factual.  Minority and low-income drivers are just as responsible as all others when it relates to obeying the law.  Anything less than equal treatment for all is unjust.  There should be no exceptions, no entitlement, and no favoritism related to questionable behavior.  

This issue causes one to consider what law enforcement deals with on a daily basis.  Have we possibly reacted too frequently based on emotion rather than facts when behaviors were involved in law enforcement altercations that developed into more serious situations having gone awry simply because race of the suspect was involved?

This is a difficult post to write due to its sensitivity, and it is written with great hesitance.  However, I believe that the majority of us wish only for all to be treated equally, without any discrimination, and for all to be safe in our streets and on our roads.  It will also matter to the victims of all races who may be delivered from great harm or even death.

Image: Kevin Payravi via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped).