Skokie Approves Over 95 Percent Of Tickets From Red Light Cameras

SKOKIE, IL — A new analysis of red light camera tickets found that Skokie has one of the highest rates of approval of any Chicago suburb. However, the village justified its 95.5 percent approval rate by pointing out it has worked out a deal with its vendor, Safespeed, to only suggest issuing tickets when it's clear a violation has occured, according to a Chicago Tribune report.

With $47.5 million worth of contracts with 21 suburban municipalities, Safespeed is the biggest red light camera operator in the area, according to the Tribune report.

When the company sends all its "gray area" violations that Skokie allegedly bypasses to Palos Heights, police there told the paper they end up rejecting more than 80 percent of them.

The Tribune analysis found Skokie had the ninth highest number of tickets issued of any town and the most of any northern suburb.

Skokie police approved more than 25,000 tickets with a value of more than $2.5 million over a year-long period examined by the Tribune.

By looking at approval logs over a recent period, the Tribune found that it took an average of just 7 seconds for some Skokie officers to approve tickets while reviewing video of each violation.

» Read the full report from The Chicago Tribune