MESA,  AZ  PHOTO  RADAR  TICKETS  EXPOSED  AS  FRAUD\n\nIllegal police 'speed traps' are nothing new, but the increasingly low levels to which governments will stoop, to trick their constituents into believing speed traps are foolproof, know no limits - at least in gun-slinging, trigger-happy Arizona. \n\nThe Mesa Police Department has installed several photo enforcement cameras in anonymous locations, often near school zones.\n\nOne trap, at Skyline High School on Crismon Street between Southern and Broadway, consists of a pole with two signs mounted vertically: \"SPEED LIMIT 35 WHEN LIGHTS ARE FLASHING\" and \"SPEED LIMIT 45 OTHER TIMES\".   The problem is the lights don't flash, ever - making the posted speed limit 45 on this otherwise 7-lane, high-speed highway that runs, unfenced, within feet of the school campus.  \n\nOne citation sent to a local resident driving a Chevrolet Suburban in February indicated her speed was \"approximately 46 mph\".   She was charged with \"speed not reasonable and prudent\".   The \"ticket\" was allegedly \"signed\" by someone named \"Joseph Bonacci\", whose badge ID #, coincidentally, end with \"911\", under the guise of \"reasonable grounds to believe\" a violation had been committed.\n\nFor those who can't see it, \"photo radar\" is a ticking time bomb left in the terminal at the Airport of Due Process. \n\nFirst, \"approximately 46 mph\" is not a legal standard of measure and, therefore, not evidence.  The operative word here - \"approximately\" - is vague and ambiguous.   \"Approximately 46 mph\" could be 47 mph or 45 mph or any other speed close to 46 mph which - absent the flashing lights - can not amount to conclusive proof of a violation of the de facto 45 mph limit.\n\nSecond, \"speed not reasonable and prudent\" is an opinion open to broad interpretation, and not an exact measure: what is reasonable and prudent under one set of conditions may not be reasonable and prudent under another. \n\nThird, the statement, \"reasonable grounds to believe\" clearly evades the mandatory language, \"violation committed in my presence\", the required wording under which all law enforcement personnel issue traffic citations.   If it didn't happen in an officer's presence it's hearsay, which is inadmissible.\n\nAnother complaint last December charged a retired doctor driving a light-colored Nissan with the same \"speed not reasonable and prudent\".   The same fake witnessing officer alleged the crime took place \"on Southern between Franklin and Brimhall\" in the city of Mesa.\n\nIn researching this story we went in search of these locations to verify, photograph and document them.  \n\nIn the instance by Skyline High School, we maintained a day-long vigil on a typical Tuesday, with classes in session, monitoring the lights from 7 AM to 4 PM and found none flashing.   A random check of neighbors, whose homes are within the proximity of the light poles, produced no one who ever recalls seeing the lights flash.\n\nIn the second instance, we drove the length of Southern Avenue in the city of Mesa, eastbound and westbound, and found no streets named Franklin or Brimhall.  We interviewed a local Code Enforcement officer familiar with the area, but she never heard of any streets named Franklin or Brimhall intersecting Southern Avenue.   Finally, in desperation, we even went to the Mesa Post Office and - SURPRISE! - they had no record of any such streets intersecting with Southern Avenue, either.\n\nAll speed control enforcement equipment is mandated by law to be regularly re-calibrated to ensure it is operating accurately.   In most instances this must be done after EACH use.   Because of the cost, few law enforcement agencies bother.   Any member of the public has the right to see the latest re-calibration documents for any given speed control enforcement device.   If the device has not been re-calibrated, its accuracy cannot be relied upon, and any violation must be dismissed for lack of evidence. \n\nEPILOG:\n\nAn increasingly corrupt government - from local politicians to coin-operated Congress and the military - is becoming America's most vocal complaint about over-reaching government abuse of citizens' constitutional rights.\n\nMeanwhile, the credibility of Mesa's police department and city officials continues its southbound flush down the toilet of no return: their website claims to provide helpful links indicating red-light and speed enforcement locations and schedule.   However, these links have been disabled and no information is provided - amounting to one more false promise. \n\nIf you should receive a camera-generated traffic ticket, always assert your 6th Amendment Constitutional rights.\n   \nAnd if you think you'll just plead guilty, pay the fine and everyone will go home happy, think again: you'll have a chargeable traffic conviction on your record and your insurance premiums will quickly head north with all due dispatch.  \n\nAnd for fines ranging from $250 to $500 for each alleged offense, it is NOT worth it.