Overseas firm ran camera program

Not long ago, Arizona became the only state with mobile cameras to catch alleged violations by motorists. This contrasted with other states, which placed cameras only at fixed locations.

Because so many innocent people were wrongly ticketed, everybody just started ignoring tickets issued under this program - which recently forced the cameras to be abolished.

A few points are in order about this program.

For starts, I never advocated violence against camera operators. I've never heard of anybody who did.

I'm 100% in favor of folks photographing cameras used for traffic enforcement and other surveillance on public property. It's called countersurveillance. It helps makes the system more honest.

What may be the most important point is that the Arizona program wasn't even run by an American company. It was run by an Australian firm. So it was actually benefiting a foreign country's economy at America's expense.

I have nothing against Australia. It's the country that gave us Men At Work, one of my favorite bands. But if Arizona had to have cameras that were farmed out to a private firm, why couldn't it choose an American company?

What really amazes me is the hypocrisy of Arizona legislators who approved this program. They're so worried about immigration that they recently passed an infamous law forcing police to practice racial profiling and inspect U.S. citizens for proof of citizenship - yet they won't even hire an American firm to run its traffic cams?

I guess I just don't get how the other side works. They fear individuals who they perceive as foreign - even while favoring foreign firms over American companies.