Yes we do Simon
I thought that this might be a quieter, saner kind of place but there seems to be a lot of drama in Redflex’s history?
........including a murder back in 2009
..and the US (now ex) CEO being found guilty of serious corruption in 2016?
https://www.itnews.com.au/news/aussie-red-light-camera-maker-redflex-cops-texas-ban-525444
Aussie red-light camera maker Redflex cops Texas ban
Not so fine time in Lone Star state.
JULIAN BAJKOWSKI
MAY 20, 2019
Australian drivers might be used to the ritual of braking to avoid getting snapped by a speed camera at seemingly every second set of traffic lights, but in Texas citizens want revenue raising safety traffic systems broken up and ripped out altogether.
Melbourne traffic technology developer Redflex on Monday warned shareholders that the Texas state legislature had passed new laws that will allow its enforcement cameras to be banned on roads controlled by local authorities as well as issuing fines based on unhappy snaps of drivers.
It’s another speed bump in the company’s efforts to export Australia’s often loathed innovation of automating fines issuance and traffic surveillance with Redflex saying the Texan ban is a “longstanding risk” of operating in the US.
Redflex told investors it derived a rather unlucky 13 percent of its revenue in the six months to December 2018 from Texas and said it expects the ban “to have a material impact on the company’s financial performance but is unable to assess the quantum at this time.”
“We are disappointed the clear benefits of enforcement have been overlooked with the enactment of bill 1631,” Redflex said.
Australian states, of course, don’t suffer such disappointment with infringement revenue easily eclipsing the $1 billion a year mark. That said, Australian police chiefs don’t have to run for election like they do in Texas as the Lone Star state’s Association of Counties helpfully explains.
There a red light ticket will set you back US$75, a figure way below Australian fine levels but still too much for the average Texan to cop.
Texas isn’t the first state to create trouble for Redflex’s vision of a compliance cash machine.
In 2015 Redflex’s US chief executive Karen Finley pleaded guilty to corruption over bribes and inducements made to a City of Chicago official to help win deals for the “Digital Automated Red Light Enforcement Program”.
There was also trouble in Ohio where a smaller bribery scandal erupted.
In 2009 one of Redflex’s employees was shot dead operating one of its cameras in Arizona.
The company has been on the nose with Republicans and other opponents of automated law enforcement surveillance who feel humans should catch and fine humans.
Redflex posted an after tax of $10.8 million for the six months ended 31st December 2018, an improvement of a $26.2 million loss for the previous corresponding period.”
Back in 2010 Julian also reported on Redflex, this time for the AFR: https://www.afr .com/technology/arizona-razes-redflex-20100826-iv1av
Arizona razes Redflex
The citizens of Arizona may like tough laws to control immigrants, but don’t ask them to cop a ticket from a red light or speed camera if you want to stay in town.
Julian Bajkowski
Aug 26, 2010 — 12.14am
The citizens of Arizona may like tough laws to control immigrants, but don’t ask them to cop a ticket from a red light or speed camera if you want to stay in town.
That was the explanation to investors from traffic safety systems developer Redflex Holdings yesterday after one-off costs from legal disputes and expired contracts helped gnaw a $13 million hole in profit for the year ended June 30....”
The corruption charges:
August 20, 2015 ;https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndil/p...tion-awarding-city-chicago-s-red-light-camera
.. “As the CEO of Redflex Traffic Systems Inc., KAREN FINLEY funneled cash and other personal financial benefits to a City of Chicago official and his friend, knowing that the payments would help persuade the city to award red-light camera contracts to Redflex, according to a plea agreement. The benefits included golf trips, hotels and meals, as well as hiring the city official’s friend as a highly compensated contractor for Redflex, according to the plea agreement.
The benefits flowed over a nine-year period, from 2003 to 2011, during which time the city expanded the Digital Automated Red Light Enforcement Program by awarding millions of dollars in contracts to Phoenix-based Redflex, the plea agreement states.....”
Also this scandalous account :
“Ex-Redflex CEO Karen Finley Sentenced to 30 Months in Speed-Camera Bribery Scheme
RAY STERN | NOVEMBER 17, 2016
https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/new...months-in-speed-camera-bribery-scheme-8833607
Includes
... “Photo-enforcement programs, whether managed by Redflex or its primary competitor, Scottsdale-based American Traffic Solutions, have been a source of controversy for years in Arizona. A now-defunct freeway-camera system approved by former Democratic Governor Janet Napolitano caused a public outcry and led to the tragic slaying in 2009 of a Redflex photo-radar van operator in Phoenix. The tickets themselves can often be beaten simply by ignoring them when they come in the mail, because state law requires that in order to become valid, the tickets must be hand-delivered unless the recipient signs a waiver...”
“Ex-Redflex CEO Karen Finley Sentenced to 30 Months in Speed-Camera Bribery Scheme
RAY STERN | NOVEMBER 17, 2016
A federal judge sentenced former Redflex CEO Karen Finley to 30 months in prison last week for her role in a bribery scheme to win photo-enforcement contracts in Chicago.
U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall also ordered Finley to pay $2 million in restitution, telling the 57-year-old Arizonan "there is no sense of corporate social responsibility there" and that the case had significant impact on the public.
Still free on bond, Finley has been ordered to surrender to the U.S. Marshal's Office by January 3, 2017. She'll serve her sentence concurrently with the 14-month prison term she received last month for a similar but smaller bribery scheme in Ohio.
Finley pleaded guilty in 2014 to several bribery charges in Ohio, and in 2015 to conspiracy to commit bribery in the Illinois case. Following her admissions of guilt, she testified against ex-Chicago transportation official John Bills, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison in August of this year following a jury verdict.
Last week's sentencing hearing marks a rough landing for the Cave Creek resident and first-time offender, who wrote in a letter last month to the judge in the Ohio case that thinking about her future left her "numb with terror."
Finley once commanded respect in the law-enforcement community owing to her work to provide Arizona and other states with photo-enforcement cameras. Finley, who lives in Paradise Valley, reportedly wept at the hearing and apologized to the court and the public.
"I am ashamed and angry at myself for behaving in a manner that was inconsistent with the way I have lived my entire life." — former Redflex CEO Karen Finley.
I am sorry that my conduct has contributed to the public's mistrust of the government," Finley said, according to the Chicago Tribune, where reporters had exposed the kickback scandal four years ago. "I am ashamed of myself."
Redflex, an Australian company that runs its North American operations from an office in Phoenix, continues to serve several Arizona cities, including Paradise Valley. The small, high-income town just east of Phoenix was one of the first municipalities in the nation to use photo enforcement.
Retired Paradise Valley Police Chief John Wintersteen wrote a letter to the court urging leniency for Finley.
Asserting that this marks the first time he has ever made such a request for a criminal defendant, Wintersteen, a longtime photo-enforcement supporter, writes in the June letter that Finley is "personally and singly responsible for saving many lives" nationwide. He also notes that Paradise Valley single-handedly saved Redflex when it ran out of cash and couldn't pay its bills, devoting public money for a one-time $225,000 infusion into the company.
After evidence revealed her involvement, Finley confessed she was aware that Martin O'Malley, a Redflex consultant, was bribing Bills, the second-in-command at Chicago's Department of Transportation who also served as a high-ranking precinct captain for the Democratic Party.
The company overpaid O'Malley, who then gave Bills about $2 million over eight years to ensure Redflex thrived and expanded in Chicago. Bills and O'Malley would meet at restaurants to exchange envelopes stuffed with cash. Bills also accepted golf games, hotel rooms, and use of a Gilbert condominium for his efforts. Though Finley never received a direct payment, she was well compensated as Redflex's business grew; she reportedly was paid about $500,000 per year in salary and bonuses.
O'Malley received a six-month federal prison sentence in September.
Redflex officials blamed part of the corruption scandal on one of its star salesmen, Aaron Rosenberg, a company vice president based in California who helped pay off Bills. After the company sued Rosenberg in an Arizona court, Rosenberg alleged that Redflex routinely bribed public officials in 13 states, including Arizona. No evidence of a similar bribery scheme in Arizona was revealed in the case. Prosecutors gave Rosenberg immunity for his cooperation; he was never charged.
A New Times review of the situation last year showed the company contributed thousands of dollars to local Democratic and Republican coffers in the 2000s. (Such donations are perfectly legal for, if not expected of, a company that seeks political favors.)
Finley's actions cost the city of Chicago, which could have negotiated better speed-camera contracts if not for the corruption. But they also had more far-reaching consequences, Illinois Northeastern District U.S. Attorney Zachary Fardon, told the court in a sentencing memorandum.
"Bribery is a two-way street," writes Fardon, who prosecuted the case himself. "Corrupt public officials cannot rob taxpayers without private counterparts willing to feed their corruption ... This egregious behavior has contributed to the public's delusion and cynicism about Chicago city government."
Fardon praised Finley's cooperation in the case, as did Judge Kendall, who reportedly told Finley that her testimony and remorse probably earned her a lighter sentence.
In her October letter to Judge Michael Watson of Ohio's Southern District, Finley related how she'd worked with Ohio lobbyist John Raphael to pass secret campaign contributions to various elected officials in the state, using fraudulent invoices.
Raphael was sentenced to 15 months in prison in June and began serving time in August. No elected officials in Illinois or Ohio were ever charged.
"I am ashamed and angry at myself for behaving in a manner that was inconsistent with the way I have lived my entire life," Finley wrote in her letter to the court. "I have destroyed my career and thrown away the good reputation that took me a lifetime to build."
Calling Redflex a "toxic and soul-sucking place to work," Finley wrote of her relief to have the chance to assist prosecutors, put the company behind her, and help care for her ailing father.
But she has had to take medication to deal with "severe anxiety and depression," Finley wrote. She can't find a job and was fired from a local grocery-store bakery after a manager saw her name in the news. She has no children and lives with her husband of 17 years.
"I fear what lies ahead, and I am numb with terror," she wrote, pleading for leniency.
Finley will serve her time in a minimum-security facility and has asked to be imprisoned at the federal prison just west of Anthem, which has about 1,300 male and female prisoners. A source familiar with the case says her request for incarceration in Arizona may or may not be honored. The decision rests with officials at the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Photo-enforcement programs, whether managed by Redflex or its primary competitor, Scottsdale-based American Traffic Solutions, have been a source of controversy for years in Arizona. A now-defunct freeway-camera system approved by former Democratic Governor Janet Napolitano caused a public outcry and led to the tragic slaying in 2009 of a Redflex photo-radar van operator in Phoenix. The tickets themselves can often be beaten simply by ignoring them when they come in the mail, because state law requires that in order to become valid, the tickets must be hand-delivered unless the recipient signs a waiver.
Republican lawmakers in particular have tried to shut down or limit the programs in Arizona cities. Governor Doug Ducey signed a bill banning photo enforcement from state highways earlier this year. In March, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich declared that the programs were illegal because photo-enforcement companies should have been licensed as private investigators. Redflex and ATS, in conjunction with city officials, turned off the cameras for a few weeks until they could obtain the proper licenses. “
......In what will be a not quite successful attempt to change the subject, I was reading today about how Australians are up in arms about Arnott’s being sold and the possible demise of the Orange Cream (thumbnail below):
disallowed/business/companies/why-a...the-end-of-orange-slices-20190725-p52akd.html
It was calming to revisit this after reading all the above .
The Arnott’s story reports on the psychology of changing the status quo and inherent perils ;
“Product changes are not typically received very well, and if handled incorrectly can incite some serious backlash from customers," Ms Williams said.”
..
... “Fancy Tim Tams belonging to anyone but Australia," one biscuit fan noted on Facebook.
"How degrading for us."
This short-term backlash should be expected, according to behavioural economics expert Bri Williams, who said disruption of a nostalgic Australian brand like Tim Tams would likely evoke emotional responses from customers.
"In the short term, customers will probably be resistant due to that sense of nostalgia. Brands we perceive to be Australian we hold close to our heart, even if in the background they’re owned by multinationals," Ms Williams said.
"But before long consumption habits will prevail and customers will likely fall back into their old routines and revert to those family favourites."
Main thing is the private equiteers don't change the recipe.
A drastic change to product formulation, such as its recipe or size, could stoke real opposition from shoppers, Ms Williams warns.
Companies such as Cadbury and Glad have attest to that.
In 2015 Glad was forced to backflip on a controversial redesign of its cling-wrap box, which moved the serrated cutter from the base of the box to the lid. The backlash was so fierce the company said it would make changes as "soon as humanly possible".
Cadbury copped similar flak earlier this year after announcing it would shrink the size of its chocolate blocks to 180 grams, from 200 grams previously.
"Product changes are not typically received very well, and if handled incorrectly can incite some serious backlash from customers," Ms Williams said.”
I was also coincidentally read about the mayhem in Shanghai where they want people to start recycling .https://qz.com/1659132/shanghai-is-giving-japanese-style-trash-sorting-a-try/
People don’t like change and obviously the ones in America have strong views about change involving traffic cameras .
But normally despite the resistance change does get it’s way .
What are your views on the management these days Simon ...
And thank you for pointing me to this very interesting company .
Cheers
Yes we do Simon :) I thought that this might be a quieter, saner...
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