Tempe Town Lake

Oddly it turns out Tempe cops don't man their photo radar speed traps, employees of Scottsdale business Redflex Traffic Systems set up and operate the photo radar speed traps for the city of Tempe.

Last but not least I though that a certified Arizona police officer had to sign each and every traffic ticket and swear that "probable cause" existed to write the ticket. But it turns out that isn't being done here. An employee of the Redflex Traffic Systems signs the tickets. Of course Redflex Traffic Systems has an interest in each and every ticket written because they get a cut of the traffic fines.

Source

September 9, 2008 - 11:44AM

Updated: September 9, 2008 - 5:48PM

Driver of speed-enforcement van booked for DUI

Mike Sakal, Bill Bertolino, Tribune

The driver of a speed photo enforcement van was arrested by Scottsdale police on suspicion of extreme DUI after a witness following the van called 911 to report that it hit a curb twice and nearly collided with another vehicle.

Roderick M. Ruffin, 53, who worked as a photo enforcement driver for Scottsdale-based Redflex Traffic Systems for a year, was arrested about 6:30 p.m. Saturday after an officer saw the van weaving from lane to lane before pulling it over at Scottsdale Road and Second Street.

Redflex fired Ruffin upon learning of the incident Tuesday. He was headed to Tempe to deploy the van for photo enforcement.

"It's an unfortunate day," said Shoba Vaitheeswaran, a company spokeswoman. "We're very sorry this happened. It's a sad day. We have a zero-tolerance policy for drivers who are arrested for DUI, and we terminated him immediately."

A motorist first saw the van traveling south on Scottsdale Road near McDonald Drive and told a 911 dispatcher he thought the driver was impaired because he saw the van hit the curb twice and nearly collide with the vehicle in front of him.

The caller told the dispatcher he was a retired police officer, and described the driver as "juiced."

"I'm a retired police officer, and I know what a drunk driver looks like," the caller said.

"OK, what's he doing that you may think he's drunk?," the dispatcher asked.

"He's weaving all over the place, he takes a curb twice, and he almost hit another vehicle in the No. 1 lane," the caller said.

Ruffin smelled of alcohol when an officer pulled him over, police said. After failing a series of sobriety tests, he was booked into the Scottsdale city jail on an extreme DUI charge after his blood alcohol content was found to be in excess of 0.15, or nearly twice the legal limit, according to police.

Ruffin had no prior incidents with the company and he passed a background check that included a question about whether he had been arrested for a DUI or a felony, Vaitheeswaran said.

"The background check, which also was conducted through the Division of Motor Vehicles, came clean," she said.

Vaitheeswaran said Ruffin was not drinking in the van.

Redflex has photo enforcement contracts with a number of Valley communities, as well as the Arizona Department of Public Safety, and Ruffin is believed to be the company's first driver involved in such an incident, according to Vaitheeswaran.