NYPD arrests couple for stealing traffic cams w/cherry picker

One of the more controversial developments in traffic safety enforcement in recent years has been the deployment of automated speed and red-light cameras, which use radar sensors to nab alleged scofflaws and ticket them via mail. According to the NYPD, pair of thieves allegedly spent the better part of a month trolling the city in a pickup truck with a cherry picker, raiding red-light camera for their valuable innards, including the Nikon cameras that actually take the photos. Police arrested the pair, identified as Brooklynites Anthony Cintorrino and Tara Laburt, after recovering some of the stolen items from a reseller and tracing them backwards from there. Following the couple's arrest, police found more stolen items in their homes, and reportedly expected to recover everything. All told, over $88,000 of equipment was swiped. Cintorrino apparently knew what he was doing -- in the past, he had worked as a contractor for the firm that installs and maintains the cameras for the city. Now, if you live in New York, don't go around thinking you start running red lights without getting snagged. The city claims all of the cameras were replaced within 48 hours of the thefts.

[Source: The New York Post | Image: Wikimedia Commons]