Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan and Police Chief Steve Krokoff have thrown their support behind state legislation that would allow the city to roll out a 5-year "demonstration" program to install cameras that would capture images of vehicles that run red lights.
Cameras would be mounted at many of the city's most dangerous intersections. The sponsors of the bill - state Senator Neil Breslin and Assembly members Pat Fahy and John McDonald flanked city officials during a press conference at the Pine Hills Library. Mayor Sheehan says the plan would benefit the public
"This is not something that we're looking at as a way of filling a budget gap or as another method of increasing the city's revenue. We're looking at it as a public safety tool and one of the things that we're gonna have to look at is 'can we afford it?' "
Officials stressed the announcement is the first of many steps before cameras actually appear anywhere in the city, which averages 42 traffic incidents on any given day.
