Speed Cameras Caught Rahm's Security Detail, CTA Buses And Hundreds Of Police

By Kate Shepherd in News on Dec 30, 2015 6:02PM

Speed cameras have caught school bus drivers and other public employees, including members of Mayor Rahm Emanuel's security detail, speeding almost 8,000 times over the past two years, according to the Tribune.

The speeding fines were usually passed along to the government employees who were behind the wheel, with the exception of CTA bus and van drivers and police officers in unmarked cars.

CTA bus drivers were required to pay their own fines until their union successfully sued to end the fines "on double-jeopardy grounds because the drivers also are subject to internal discipline," according to the Tribune.

The transit agency has to pay the employees' fines, including for the 714 CTA speeding cases discovered by the newspaper.

More than 2,000 speeding tickets were issued to unmarked police vehicles. Law enforcement employees did not have to pay the fines, as long as they could justify speeding to their supervisors.

When asked by the Tribune for the number of officers excused from paying speeding fines, Chicago Police Department spokeswoman Janel Sedevic didn't have a number and said she's not sure CPD keeps track of it.

Transit bus drivers and police officers weren't the only government employees to get speeding citations: 655 went to state vehicles, 435 to Cook County vehicles and 158 to various suburban government vehicles.

State employees are required to pay their own traffic fines.

"It's the same for red light camera tickets or any infraction," Meredith Krantz, a spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Central Management Services told the Tribune. "Employees are responsible for following the law when they are driving state vehicles."

It's not the first time that the controversial speed camera program has come under scrutiny. A Tribune investigation revealed last month that about 110,000 questionable tickets have been issued.