Aurora’s photo speed enforcement pilot program, which has been in effect since July 2023, has struggled with staffing and lost a significant amount of money, according to staff in a committee meeting Thursday morning. 

Councilmember Danielle Jurinsky, who is also the chair of the city’s Public Safety, Courts and Civil Service Policy Committee, called the program an “epic failure,” expressing interest in ending the pilot program before its planned end in August 2024. 

The program’s intention is to make neighborhoods safer and address complaints about speeding from community members. 

In its first month, Aurora police issued warnings to people caught speeding on its pilot program van cameras. In August 2023, they began issuing violations and citations under the program. 

Under the program, APD can deploy photo radar vans in residential neighborhoods with speed limits of 35 mph or less, school zones, construction zones and streets bordering municipal parks. 

State laws cap fines at $40 in residential areas and $80 in school zones. Speeding 25 mph or more over the posted speed limit is considered a traffic offense, meaning police officers are sent out to issue citations. 

Aurora Police Lt. Chris Amsler said the program from August to December 2023 has resulted in over 4,000 violations, over 1,000 mailed violation notices, almost 900 violations in progress, 26 high speed violations 25 mph or more over the speed limit, and over 2,000 rejected violations. 

Rejected violations include unclear photos, where the plate or car cannot be identified, or emergency vehicles with lights and sirens. 

The program has struggled with staffing since its implementation, Amsler said. To be fully staffed, they need one authorized photo enforcement supervisor and six photo enforcement technicians. 

While they’ve had an enforcement supervisor with the program since the beginning, they are set to lose her to a fulltime job with the city — since there’s no guarantee that her current job will be there when the pilot ends. 

A sworn officer from APD’s traffic section will take over the position for the remainder of the program. 

Currently, they have two technicians and, in total, have had 65 applicants since the start of the program. 

From August through November, they interviewed nine people and have 13 pending applications. 

In citation revenue, the city has received just over $42,000 since the start of the program. The program’s total expenses have added up to almost $395,000, with $83,400 per month going toward the three vans provided by Conduent, the contract vendor.  

Next steps for the program are pushing out more messaging and collaborating with recruiting to get more staffing.

Jurinsky, however, said the program seemed like an “epic failure,” saying she wasn’t sure she wanted the program to continue. 

“This seems like an epic failure to me if we’re upside down $350,000 on this program and there are 2,400 rejections for not getting a clear picture or whatever,” Jurinsky said. “Seeing what I just saw, I’m not sure I’m even interested in continuing the pilot program after this initial period…that’s alarming to see.”

In a message to Jurinsky, Councilmember Steve Sundberg told Jurinsky to stop being “such a Debbie Downer,” saying the police chief noted that the program has been slowing people down in a city that had 65 traffic-related deaths last year. 

While the contract goes through August, the city can terminate it at any time with council direction. However, the city would likely still owe the vendor about $1 million for the program, whether or not they complete it. 

Staff said either council needs to give direction to APD to get out of the contract, or they need to try to make up the money owed through the rest of the contract period by fully staffing the program for the remainder of the contract. 

This would mean needing get 2,220 paid violations each month to break even.

“I think taking a $1.08 million loss would be uncalled for,” Jurinsky said. “I think the department needs to decide, can we make this work and figure out how to internally staff this. I don’t want to take our traffic officers off the road and seat them in this van.”

Staff agreed to get information on the cost of getting out of the contract before bringing the decision to council.