Traffic camera companies operating in Arizona may be committing a crime by operating without a private investigator's license, a newly released memorandum to the state legislature explained. The non-partisan Arizona Legislative Council, the legislature's official source for drafting and reviewing legislation, looked at the licensing question on behalf of state Representative Sam Crump (R-Anthem).
Under Arizona law, an individual who is not a police officer or insurance adjuster may not "secure evidence to be used... in the trial of civil or criminal cases and the preparation therefor" without a private investigator's license. Violating this statute is a class 1 misdemeanor, and the legislative branch lawyers believe Arizona's automated ticketing contractors could be guilty of this crime.
"Applying liberal construction of the definition of private investigator under the statute, the activities conducted by a photo enforcement company such as Redflex arguably fit within that definition," the memo stated. "Mainly, Redflex gathers data and processes it for the purpose of identifying violators of the state's traffic regulations.... In addition, ARS 32-2409 provides an extensive list of exceptions to the requirement of obtaining a license. It does not appear that Redflex would fall within any of these exemptions. Arguably, if the legislature wanted to exempt photo enforcement agencies from licensure, it could have done so by adding such agencies to the list of exemptions."
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