Suburban officials want to ditch red light camera company after corruption case

Click here for updates on this story

    Tinley Park (WGN) — Officials in south suburban Tinley Park are exploring whether they can end the village’s contract with the controversial camera company SafeSpeed.

The camera company has a contract to operate three cameras in the village, including at the busy intersection of 159th Street and Harlem Avenue.

“This intersection that you’re right near here has ‘em and there’s a lot of accidents there all the time, so if it can in any way improve safety, I’m all for it,” resident Pete Bobber said.

Red light cameras in the suburb churn out 400 tickets every week, annoying residents, but elected officials have another reason: the federal corruption investigation into SafeSpeed.

As part of a federal investigation, former state Sen. Martin Sandoval has pleaded guilty to taking bribes in exchange for protecting the industry from his powerful position in Springfield.

And a former SafeSpeed representative allegedly bribed the relative of an Oak Lawn trustee in exchange for help getting cameras in Oak Lawn.

Oak Lawn chose not to renew a contract with SafeSpeed, and now Tinley Park may end its contract early.

The village attorney is reassessing the contact with the company to see if they can get out of it even before it expires in December.

If Tinley Park does get out of the contract, it’s likely the village would completely get rid of the cameras rather than finding another company.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.