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Smile! Local officers quietly snap photos during traffic stops
McALLEN — Oscar Escobedo didn’t expect to have his picture taken.
The McAllen man said he got a traffic ticket last month for running a red light at the intersection of Pecan Boulevard and Ware Road.
Escobedo is fighting the ticket. But when he found out his photo was in his case file at McAllen Municipal Court, he said he was shocked.
“I thought, well, the officer shouldn’t be doing that,” the 44-year-old said. “He should have at least told me so I could brush my hair and give my best smile.”
McAllen police and some other local police departments have begun using handheld electronic devices to issue traffic citations.
McAllen Police Chief Victor Rodriguez said his department began using the devices to issue traffic violations last year. With the device, officers can swipe a driver’s license and scan a vehicle’s registration sticker to accurately input information.
The device nonchalantly takes the driver’s photo as part of evidence gathering — just like any other criminal case, the chief said.
“It’s evidence collection,” Rodriguez said. “It’s nothing else.”
Tom Gaylor, deputy executive director of the Texas Municipal Police Association, said he was unfamiliar with the devices. But he said photos collected during the traffic stop would help eliminate a common problem when tickets are challenged in court.
“We will have people who will lie to us about their names,” Gaylor said. He added that some disputed traffic cases don’t get heard in court for months or years — making difficult for officers to recall the incident or who was cited.
The photos help eliminate that problem, Rodriguez said.
Officers in Mission and Pharr use similar devices to take photos and automatically input data during traffic stops, officers said. In those cities, the devices have been met with few complaints.
San Juan police recently purchased one of the devices for its newly deployed motorcycle patrol officer to use, Police Chief Juan Gonzalez said.
“I think the people are always concerned about that,” Gonzalez said of the photos. “But nowadays we want to make sure the violators we stop is the same person as on the driver’s license.”
In McAllen, the department has 52 of the devices in its inventory. Each one cost $3,200 and Rodriguez reckoned that more than 90 percent of traffic citations issued now come via the electronic devices.
But Texas Department of Public Safety troopers, who typically patrol state roads and highways, do not use devices that collect photos during traffic stops, said Johnny Hernandez, a local agency spokesman. The state’s system downloads a driver’s license photo during traffic stops, allowing troopers to check the driver stopped is the same person on the license, he said.
Rodriguez said the electronic devices eliminate paperwork involved with traffic citations, as well. At the end of an officer’s shift, the information downloads into the municipal court system and the photos are kept only with the citation’s case file, he said.
“It’s all a part of the ticket,” Rodriguez said. “There is no bifurcation.”
Escobedo said he questions the devices, but can understand police’s desire to take photos during traffic stops.
“I don’t have a problem with getting my picture taken,” he said, “just let the public know about it.”
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Jared Taylor covers law enforcement and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4439.
