Last August reported how a high profile spokesman for Maryland based speed camera company Optotraffic, Mickey Shepherd, was caught speeding in May of 2011. After that incident was reported, Mr Shepherd replied to us in an email: "In
regards to the violation, and your publication of this information, my
only comment is that I appreciate the reminder. These reminders only
serve to help in my efforts to obey the law." Despite the reminder, court records now show a second incident under Mr Shepherd's name dated September 11, 2012, for allegedly driving 71mph, 16mph over the speed limit:
Court record shows the same physical description, date of birth, and license plate number as the prior incident. We attempted to contact Mr Shepherd at his last known email address and received no reply after two days.
The court record shows that in this case a "request for trial" was received on 9/17 and is scheduled for December. In
the trial for this human-issued citation, Mickey will be permitted the
right to confront the officer who issued him the citation, the state
will be required to be able identify the driver rather than merely
holding the owner responsible, the state will not be explicitly
permitted to introduce evidence "without authentication", and the
motorist will be entitled to a presumption of innocence. Very much
unlike recipients of speed camera tickets.
Mickey has recently appeared in Elmwood Place Ohio in support of the newly installed Optotraffic cameras have been issuing $105 fines to vehicles traveling as slowly as 26mph, just a few mph over the limit. Mickey admitted having received tickets when speaking in an Elmwood Place meeting, in an apparent effort to bond with the crowd of angry ticket recipients: "I've received traffic citations, I've received tickets," Shepherd
said. "I don't like to receive them, I understand that, but the speed
limit needs to be obeyed."(channel 19 News, Ohio).
“We are a business; any business is in business to make money at it,” Shepherd said at a public meeting in Elmwood Place (as quoted in Cincinatti.com). Motorists driving though Elmwood Place have recently been outraged by thousands of tickets issued by the small town in past weeks, some of which for driving no more than 26mph, and some of which mistakenly stated the location of the alleged violation in Maryland rather than Ohio.
In 2011, Mickey Shepherd conducted public relations for Optotraffic, including arguing both in public and in court that images recorded by Optotraffic cameras could not be used as proof of speed in order to allow a defendant to exonerate themselves (after several individuals argued that they had received erroneous citations), despite the presence of an earlier Optotraffic document which claimed citation images did provide evidence of speed. In another one of Mr Shepherd's public relations posting for Optotraffic, Mr Shepherd argued that the Town of Cheverly had "successfully accomplished it's mission" of eliminating speeding in the town as the reason why they were canceling their contract with the town -- only to have it later revealed that Cheverly town officials had been dissatisfied not only because the devices had been recording "false triggers" (including a bike traveling at freeway speeds and an "invisible vehicle" going 76mph), but also that the town had been rejecting most of the citation images being recorded due to poor quality.
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Our Top Stories
- Rockville Falsely Accuses School Bus of Speeding
- Montgomery County Has Secret Speed Camera Committee -- Press and Critics Not Welcome
- Montgomery Speed Camera "OmBudsman" Won't Answer Questions
- Montgomery County Issues Erroneous Tickets
- College Park Cited Stationary Bus for Speeding
- Montgomery County ATEU Defends Culture of Secrecy
- How Two-Faced Triple-A Gave Maryland Speed Cameras
- "Secret" Baltimore Speed Camera Audit Found 10% Error Rate
- Speed Camera Reform Act Just a Big Fat Lie
- Court Rules Against Morningside on Public Records Access
- Speed Camera Company Celebrates "Bounty System" Loophole
- Montgomery County Steals Lanes for Expensive Bus Program
- Wicomico County Teachers Say Camera is Not Accurate
- Montgomery Council President Rice Racked Up Tickets
- Circuit Court Rules Innocence is a Defense, Rejects "Snitch" Requirement
- Baltimore Ends Camera Contract, Moves to Hides Records
- Montgomery Scamera Boss Lies About Red Light Camera "Warning Flashes"
- Montgomery County Camera Boss Blocks Public From Secret Meeting
- Salisbury Records Show Calibration Lapses, Sorry No Refunds!!
- Speed Camera Accuracy Questioned in Morningside
- Attorny General Gansler Depicted as "Reckless Passenger"
- Morningside Deployed Cameras Despite County Denial
- Morningside Admits Maintaining No Calibration Records, Doesn't Operate Own Cameras
- ACLU Documents Mass Tracking of Motorists By License Plate Scannrs
- Brekford Demands Tribute to See Calibration Records
- Access To Brekford Calibration Records Stalled in Salisbury, Morningside
- Public and Private Lobbyists Worked to Kill Speed Camera Reform
- Montgomery County Speed Camera Transforms Toyota into Dodge
- Montgomery County Boasts Error Rate "Under Ten Percent"
- Speed Camera Company Collects Dirt on Competitors
- Woman Gets 3 Tickets from DC Without Going There
- Legislature Raises Gas Tax
- Laurel, Hagerstown Circumvent Calibration Requirement
- Speed Camera Calibration Fails To Ensure Accuracy
- Speed Camera Programs Flout Sunshine Law
- Xerox Admits 5% Error Rate For Speed Camera Tickets
- Baltimore Cites Motionless Car For Speeding
- O'Malley Says Speed Camera Bounties Are Illegal
- Baltimore Ticketed Innocent Delivery Vehicle: Documents Prove Speed Camera Error
- Rockville Sees Huge Surge in Red Light Violations
- Trucking Company Challenges Accuracy of Baltimore Citations: Videos Prove Speed Camera Errors
- Speed Camera Salesman Caught Speeding AGAIN
- Riverdale Park Defends Forgery of Police Signatures
- High Court Rules Local Governments Above the Law
- Riverdale Park Allowed Civilians to Forge Police Approvals
- Baltimore Speed Camera Issues Ticket to the Dead
- Statewide Speed Cameras Now a $77Million Per Year Industry
- PG County Court Presumes All Defendants Guilty
- Town Releases Documents Proving Errors With Optotraffic Cameras
- Man arrested for asserting innocence in speed camera hearing
- Optotraffic Representative Caught Speeding
- Driver Uses Carchip to Challenge Optotraffic Camera
- Deceased Baltimore Cop Signs 2000 Citations
- Montgomery County Denies Right To Face Camera Operator In Court
- ACS Buys Steak Dinners For Lawmakers
- Baltimore City Issues Hundreds of Tickets in Error
- Baltimore Writes Speed Camera Revenues Into Budget Before Cameras Approved
- Camera Mistakenly Accuses Driver of 100mph Rampage
- Montgomery County Scamera Contract Includes Massive PR Campaign
- Optotraffic Investigates Possible Speed Camera Errors
- Speed Camera Legislation Attracts Lobbyists
- Sykesville Voters Overturn Speed Cameras in Referendum
- Traffic Engineering Techniques Out-perform Speed Cameras
- Transportation Planning Board Unveils Plan to Track and Tax Drivers
