BEXAR COUNTY, Texas – Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales is petitioning Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on the legality of a Bexar County constable’s use of a new speed camera system.
Last month, KSAT reported on the system called Scanning LIDAR (LIDAR stands for “light detection and ranging”) purchased by Bexar County District 3 Constable Mark Vojvodich.
The system, which involves the use of cameras equipped with infrared lights, is capable of scanning five lanes of traffic at a time.
When a driver exceeds a predetermined speed, the camera flashes, capturing images of the driver’s face and license plates without face-to-face interaction with law enforcement.
For some people, the Scanning LIDAR system may bring up memories of red-light cameras, which were outlawed statewide in 2019.
Those devices were affixed to traffic signals to capture and cite drivers who run red lights.
According to Gonzales' request to Paxton, Vojvodich believes Scanning LIDAR cameras are exempt from the 2019 statewide ban because the system is “not affixed to traffic signals.”
The district attorney told Paxton that Vojvodich did not seek the Bexar County Commissioners Court’s approval to acquire the equipment and is also unclear how Vojvodich’s office “obtained the system.”
Initially, violators received warnings. However, with Phase 2 — which started at the beginning of February — speeding drivers are now receiving real tickets.
In a KSAT follow-up story published earlier this month, the system has issued 367 tickets out of 4,000 speeding drivers.
The Bexar County District Attorney’s Office is now tasked with processing those 367 speeding tickets.
“We must evaluate whether a valid legal basis exists to prosecute these citations, considering the manner in which the Constable has implemented the use of an automated traffic enforcement system,” Gonzales wrote to Paxton. “Currently, there is no statute or existing legislative authority that authorizes county officers to use an automated traffic enforcement system in the manner and means employed by the Constable.”
In the meantime, state Rep. Briscoe Cain (R) of Baytown filed a bill with the Texas Legislature that outlaws the use of Scanning LIDAR and other similar systems statewide.
“I think, pretty soon, an attorney general opinion will be coming out letting them know they can’t do it,” Cain told KSAT earlier this month.
Below is Gonzales' full letter to Paxton.
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