By Matt Sepic, KWMU
St. Louis, MO – St. Louis traffic court officials held a news conference Monday to tout a new police computer system meant to streamline the process of issuing traffic tickets. However they were far less willing to talk about the thorny issue of how the city enforces tickets generated by its automated red light cameras.
With much publicity, St. Louis city began using the cameras a year ago, but police still do not have the authority to arrest violators.
While eager to talk about a new computer ticket processing system for police cars, Municipal Court Judge Margaret Walsh was not willing to discuss whether the city enforces tickets from its unmanned cameras.
"This press conference is simply on this issue," Walsh said. "I'm not going to answer that now."
However after a newspaper reporter started asking questions several months ago, alderman Freeman Bosley Sr. introduced a bill that would give the city legal authority to issue bench warrants for camera violators.