The Everett Herald is at it again. This time they have uncovered emails from the police that reveal:

• The city is dependent on the money that the cameras bring in.
• A deputy chief inquired about employment with ATS
• A different police officer offered marketing advice to ATS, and that same officer is also involved with a law enforcement lobbying group.

From the Everett Herald:

Traffic-enforcement cameras were first installed here in 2007, and ever since Lynnwood police have insisted that the controversial program is all about safety. This week, Chief Steve Jensen conceded the city depends on the millions of dollars it gets from tickets, and if the money disappears he’ll be laying off cops.

He also has asked for an outside investigation into whether two key officers, including a deputy chief who is Jensen’s domestic partner, crossed ethical or legal lines in their dealings with the for-profit Arizona company that operates the cameras.

The program started out targeting traffic scofflaws and still does, but revenue — more than $4 million in 2010 — has come to fuel Lynnwood’s ongoing devotion to the cameras, Jensen said.

Read the rest here: https://www.heraldnet.com/article/20110818/NEWS01/708199929