A couple of weeks ago, District locals say they suddenly noticed a box that had a camera inside. But they couldn’t figure out why the Metropolitan Police Department would install a camera in that location.
Reportedly, the camera is just weeks old and is already beat-up, battered, and spattered with paint.
“We’re just trying to figure out what it’s there for,” said resident Darryl Price.
Some think it’s a speed camera, while others think it must have something to do with crime or drug dealing in the area.
At this point, the camera inside the box doesn’t even look operational, with the lens cap still on the camera. But in this neighborhood, residents aren’t underestimating the power of the government.
“It probably works,” says one resident. “It doesn’t look like it works, but it’s probably working.”
It appears that this is a new kind of traffic camera. It’s not a speed camera and it’s not a red light camera – it’s a stop sign camera.
This means that if a car does not stop before crossing the white line, the driver will get a ticket.
D.C. resident Virginia May argues that it won’t do much good with paint all over it, but the MPD disagree — a little paint wont affect it at all.
However, the camera is still technically in the test phase. It hasn’t yet been activated, and motorists will receive a solid, 30-day warning before it starts catching those who roll on through the stop sign.
