Hundreds of police officers in the nation’s capital padded their salaries with more than $80,000 a year from money generated by automated traffic devices, commonly known as speed and red light cameras, a civil lawsuit alleges. In 2011, the Metropolitan Police Department "civilianized" the automated traffic enforcement unit, meaning contractors – not police officers – were in charge of issuing the tickets, according to McPherson. Robinson raised concerns over the practice at the time, arguing the law required trained police officers to issue such traffic citations, his lawyer said. The process of using civilians to staff the traffic unit has taken years. "By 2014, MPD was utilizing some civilian technicians to deploy automated traffic devices under the supervision of sworn members," Robinson testified in a deposition.

Source: Fox News August 14, 2017 19:02 UTC