They're designed to catch drivers who run red lights and they're at intersections all around town. But who decides where red light cameras are placed and why? Investigative Reporter David Goldstein uncovered the truth about red light royalties.

Special Assignment: "Red Light Royalties" aired February 20, 2003

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Martha Olivera can't contain her grief when talking about her thirty four year old son, Ruben, who was killed last August. He was thrown from his car at the corner of Sherman Way and Woodman after being hit by a vehicle that ran a red light.

City officials suggested installing a camera that catches red light runners to improve safety. It takes a picture that many times turns into a $324 ticket.

But, at Sherman Way and Woodman it never happened. According to documents obtained by CBS 2 News, the private company that runs the cameras and makes $60 off every ticket, rejected this location and more than 50 others because of poor violation production.

Ron Arnone worked for the company that runs the red light cameras in L.A.

"It’s all about money as far as I was concerned," Arnone says.

Although Arnone didn’t work here, he says he was involved in the planning of hundreds of the cameras on the East Coast, and claims dollars and cents, not safety, was the main consideration when it came to picking a location.

Arnone: “I never heard them talk about safety. It was all about finding good locations to make these people a lot of money.”

The cameras are located at 16 intersections in the city of L.A. -- all run by a company called ACS. You’d expect them to be located at the most dangerous intersections, but we uncovered that’s not nearly the case.

According to documents obtained from the LAPD, red light cameras are stationed at just four of the top 40 dangerous intersections in the city. City officials admit that ACS has rejected more dangerous intersections because they want to turn a profit.

"When we worked with ACS, we have ahead a challenging relationship with them because the intersections that we have proposed have not always been the intersection they’ve bought into."

But, the cameras do make money. According to the L.A. auditor’s office, the city took in $1.1 million from red light tickets last year. And ACS's cut is more than $421,000.

"We’re not in it to make money," says Maurey Hannigan, a retired CHP Commissioner who now works for ACS and administers the program.

Hannigan says money is not the first concern. It’s safety. And, despite the documents, he denies that the company rejects intersections for lack of ticket productivity.

Hannigan: "It’s not our policy to reject intersections. We’ll provide recommendations to the city and they will make the determination where the cameras go."

Now, you might be asking what’s wrong with the cameras being placed at these intersections as long as they are catching red light violators?

According to AAA, the state's No. 1 motorist watchdog group, everything is wrong. And it's so fishy that they're going to ask the state legislature to put a stop to it.

Sgt. Steve Foster says his aim is safety. His officers examine and approve every photo before it becomes a citation. Judges normally find them convincing. Sgt. Foster said he wasn’t aware that ACS rejected locations but says that accidents are down 11 percent at red light camera intersections. And he believes the system works.

Foster: "They chose 16 problem intersections and this volume and potential revenue means nothing to me. I don't care if ACS makes a dime."

But others do. When we told L.A. City Councilman Dennis Zine about our findings he said the police should change.

"There’s something wrong with the program and it must be corrected," Zine says. "Clearly this is not about revenue, this is about saving lives."

Because of our investigation, Councilman Zine plans on holding hearings in the Public Safety Committee, looking for changes.

And next week, a bill will be introduced in the state legislature to ban a per-ticket fee and let police agencies -- not private companies -- dictate where the cameras will be placed.