NY - PBA chief says no to cameras for catching speeding drivers

ALBANY — The PBA wants to slam the brakes on using cameras to catch speeders.

The Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association said Friday it’s urging lawmakers to reject the legislation pushed by the Bloomberg administration for the new devices.

“Speed cameras are no substitute for live policing,” PBA President Patrick Lynch told the the Daily News.

He said the cameras would allow drivers who are drunk, carrying weapons and fleeing crimes to “slip by.”

The cameras record the speed of passing vehicles. The Bloomberg administration wants to test using 20 of them in school zones. Tickets would be issued automatically.

Political momentum had been growing behind the proposal, which was included in an Assembly budget bill adopted this week.

But the PBA’s arguments have found a sympathetic ear in the more conservative state Senate. Sen. Martin Golden (R-Brooklyn) predicted the upper chamber would not go along.

“What we need are the actual police officers on the street,” he said. “Cops on the street are what slows people down.”

By Glenn Blain / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS