This week, the first $100 red light camera tickets in Cleveland, Ohio will be in the mail along with speeding tickets worth up to $200 each. Since January, outgoing Mayor Jane Campbell has been anxious to get her photo enforcement program operational to raise $10 million in revenue and close a significant budget shortfall. Already, the program is not delivering on at least one of its initial promises.

City officials have regularly insisted that police officers would review every citation before it was issued. The Cleveland Plain Dealer has discovered that from November 15 to 29, police reviewed 230 of 700 photographs taken by the camera. But camera vendor ACS mailed out 504 notices during this trial warning period. That means more than one-half of the notices went out without any police review. Cleveland's public service director explained that ACS was responsible for mailing notices, and ACS would not comment on the matter.

ACS operates the program in return for a bounty on each ticket issued. The company expects to make at least $4 million a year.