Here is the official press release from ACS, the company that Chicago awarded the $7 million contract to equip all it’s street sweepers with ticketing cameras.

ACS will outfit all 100 city street sweepers (that breaks down to two per ward) with cameras that will photograph the license plate of each car that has not moved during street cleaning.

Bummer.

ACS Awarded Innovative Parking Enforcement Contract by City of Chicago

Posted by: Andy Wilson http://www.acs-inc.com From: Affiliated Computer Services, Inc. (ACS) Date: 4/22/2008 Street sweepers equipped with cameras will enable the City of Chicago to decrease the number of illegally parked vehicles under the world’s first application of its kind. Affiliated Computer Services, Inc. will install and maintain 100 camera systems during the next three years as part of a $7 million contract.The street sweeper-automated parking violation system of the city’s Department of Streets and Sanitation is designed to reduce the number of illegally parked vehicles on streets scheduled for cleaning. ACS will also perform image verification to confirm the violation occurred and will provide training for city employees.

“ACS is uniquely equipped to provide the services Chicago needs to meet a public safety and traffic flow issue because of our vast experience providing parking services to major cities in the nation,” said Michael Huerta, ACS executive vice president and group president, Transportation Solutions. “The City of Chicago has demonstrated extraordinary foresight in helping develop a solution that will be a model for the industry.”

Chicago faces a problem with illegally parked cars causing disruption to street cleaning efforts and traffic flow. After a pilot program that proved the success of the concept, the city solicited bids for a solution for its 100 street sweeper units to use technology to combat the problem.

ACS’ solution involves a rugged camera system to capture the image of the illegally parked car and a second, zoomed-in image of the license plate, using Mobile License Plate Recognition technology for enhanced readability. As the sweeper moves down the street, the automated system takes pictures of the violating vehicles, transmits images and data for image verification, and interfaces with the Chicago Department of Revenue to mail violation notices.

ACS is the industry leader in providing transportation services to governments worldwide. ACS’ Transportation Solutions business helps government agencies in more than 30 countries address their challenges through revenue collection and regulation compliance services. Our industry-leading solutions include electronic toll collection, public transport fare collection, parking fare collection, public safety photo enforcement, commercial vehicle credentialing, traffic and parking violation processing and collection, and port management services. Learn more about ACS at http://www.acs-inc.com.