> The red-light enforcement cameras that many Las Cruces motorists loathed have been gone for more than 15 months. Now, more than $2.9 million in unpaid fines could become a thing of the past, too.

City Manager Robert Garza has said Las Cruces is "washing its hands" of the red-light enforcement camera program. City officials agreed, saying attempts by the city to collect outstanding fines have also stopped. During the city's 2015 fiscal year, from July 1, 2014 until June 30, only $36,000 in unpaid red-light camera fines were paid.

"Given the small amount recovered, the city is cancelling its involvement in the collection program," City Attorney William "Rusty" Babington Jr. said. "... Whether or not the city will continue to try to collect is still under review."

It's possible Redflex Traffic Systems, the owner and operator of the red-light cameras, could contract with another collection agency and compel the city to negotiate a collection program.

The controversial cameras operated in Las Cruces from late March 2009 until late February 2014. The Redflex cameras were removed in May 2014 from the intersections of Telshor Boulevard and Lohman Avenue, Walnut Street and Lohman, and at northbound Valley Drive at Avenida de Mesilla.

The city had a five-year contract with Redflex that was to expire in March 2014. But after consulting with the Las Cruces City Council, Garza cancelled the contract, and the Las Cruces Police Department quit issuing citations for red-light camera violations in mid-February 2014.

"I don't know anybody who misses them, really," said Las Crucen Patti Martinez, an administrative assistant. "They probably turned out to be more trouble than they were worth. That much in unpaid fines kind of tells you how much respect the public had for them. There's more problems these days with people who are talking or texting on their phones anyway. More could be done for that."

Las Cruces Police Chief Jaime Montoya agreed.

"Talking or texting on a cell phone is a problem that we address continually and with special operations," Montoya said. The city has received a $9,981 grant from the nonprofit organization Safer New Mexico Now for increased enforcement of cellphone use while driving, he said.

"This money was specific for cell phone use while driving," Montoya said. "We also receive grant funding from Safer New Mexico Now for Operation DWI, Operation Buckle Down, Click It or Ticket, and 100 Days and Nights. While working these overtime grant projects we may also cite for cell phone use.

"We have written a total of 4,851 citations for prohibited cell phone use while using all these pools of money."

Montoya said that while on routine daily patrols, Las Cruces police issued 808 citations during the city's 2015 fiscal year for improper cell phone use. Fines for talking or sending text messages on a cell phone while driving are $92 for each offense.