Action by the Missouri Supreme Court changes little in St Joseph, which suspended it’s red-light camera program when conflicting appeals court rulings arose.

“The court’s action leaves us right where we were yesterday,” said St Joseph Police Chief Chris Connally.

 

The high court ruled Tuesday that it will not hear the cases of three cities whose red-light camera laws were challenged in lower courts.

The high court denied transfer requests by the cities of Creve Coeur and Kansas City, and red-light camera vendor American Traffic Solutions Inc. The high court also rejected a request that came from an appeals court ruling involving the city of Florissant.

American Traffic Solutions is the vendor that supplies the cameras in St Joseph.

A St. Louis attorney who brought the lawsuits said the immediate effect is to invalidate ordinances that do not assess “points” against people who own vehicles being ticketed based on photographs.

The St Joseph ordinance does not assess points, but St Joe Police Chief Connally says there’s no reason to rush into anything.

“We will continue to monitor the rulings of the Supreme Court, and legislation pending in Jefferson City,” Connally said. “If we need to make a policy change, we’ll take that before the City Council, but there’s no need to move quickly on this.”

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that the state Supreme Court has not yet addressed more recent rulings by the Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District in cases involving challenges to the Ellisville and Arnold photo enforcement ordinances.

ATS spokesman Charles Territo said in a statement the company is hopeful the Missouri Supreme Court will take up one of the remaining cases.

(The Associated Press and the St Louis Post-Dispatch contributed to this report)