Saskatoon, Regina police aren't issuing fines to non-Sask. drivers caught by speed cameras: auditor's report

Police services in Regina and Saskatoon haven't been issuing fines to out-of-province drivers when they're caught speeding by traffic cameras, according to a report from Saskatchewan'sauditor.

The office of provincial auditor Judy Ferguson released its spring 2019 report on Thursday. Included in that report isa report on the accuracy and reliability of provincial speeding cameras.

That report found that 44 per cent of total violations captured by the cameras in the province do not result in fines despite violations.

The speed enforcement program "reduces the frequency and severity of collisions by consistently deterring speeding with fines issued from eight speed cameras," the report says.

But Saskatchewan Government Insurance, which operates the program, "needs to determine whether reasons for not issuing fines for identified violations are consistent with its policies, as well as enforce out-of-province speeding provisions of contracts" withparticipating municipal police services in Moose Jaw, Saskatoon and Regina, the report says.

"In practice, only the RCMP and Moose Jaw police services issued finesto out-of-province violators," said the report. "Regina and Saskatoon police services do not."

Speeding violations are supposedto beassessed within seven business days. Ferguson highlighted one case in ittook 31 business days for a fine to be issued.

The Regina Police Service said it started issuing tickets for out-of-province speederscaught by photo radaras of June 3. Before that, there were problems with getting direct access to vehicle registration information for out-of-province drivers.

"Up until now, the only work-around available to us was simply too labour-intensive and not practical," read a police statement.

Police said they have now found a way to track the information with a method that works with SGI, traffic prosecutions and the vendor, in order to issue those tickets.

Thespring 2019 auditor's report includes results from annualintegrated audits, 32follow-up auditsand nine performance audits. The performance audits include the report on SGI's traffic program.

The report also delves into topics such as health care facilities maintenance,mitigatingconflicts of interest, and opioid prescribing anddispensing practices.