City not dismissing thousands of photo radar tickets issued despite clerical error, officials say

MESA, Ariz. (KPHO/Gray News) — City officials in Arizona say tickets issued with a retired judge’s signature will not be dismissed despite the error.

More than 40,000 photo radar citations issued by Mesa authorities between 2020 and 2021 contained the error.

According to Mesa Assistant City Manager Ken Cost, the tickets displayed the name of a judge who was no longer with the city.

“We had a longtime judge who left the city and when he left, one of our clerks found an error that the judge’s name, who was on citations prior, continued to be on citations even though he was retired,” he said.

When a photo radar system detects a speeding violation, officials say it captures the driver’s photo, speed and other information before sending the data to the city.

A judge’s digital signature is then automatically applied to the citation before it is mailed to the defendant.

Cost said a similar problem occurred in 2024, but it was identified and corrected quickly.

Mesa officials said they will not offer refunds or dismiss the affected citations despite the signature error.

“It’s legally valid. The name is inconsequential. Totally understand where people are coming from with their concern, but people need to understand their tickets were valid in the city of Mesa. It was a process error, not a legal error,” Cost said.

The city of Mesa said it is petitioning higher courts to eliminate the requirement that a judge sign photo radar citations.