James S. Wood / Arizona Daily Star

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Someone in Tucson isn't happy about the city's red-light cameras.

A vandal re-aimed most of the traffic cameras at collision-prone intersections over the weekend in an apparent attempt to keep them from snapping photos of speeders and red-light runners, an official said.

Tucson police traffic Sgt. James Scott said he got an e-mail from the vendor that provides the cameras saying that many of them in the city had been vandalized.

"Whether it's because they don't agree with the program or they got a ticket and weren't happy about it, I couldn't say," Scott said.

Crews were working Monday to determine the extent of the damage and see how quickly they could get them working again, said Josh Weiss, a spokesman for American Traffic Solutions Inc., the company that provides the cameras.

Whoever did it is likely on tape because the cameras are always recording, both Scott and Weiss said. It's just a matter of determining whether police can identify the perpetrator.

On Saturday, someone reported seeing a man who'd been riding a motorcycle start moving the cameras at East 22nd Street and South Wilmot Road, Scott said.

The vandalism raises concerns about whether the cameras are vulnerable, Scott said.

There are 300 cities with red-light cameras like the ones Tucson has, Weiss said, and incidents of vandalism are rare.

It would have taken a substantial effort to move the cameras, he said. "It's not like it was easy to just move them."

The person probably had to hang from the camera to get it to move, he said. But the best deterrent is to catch the perpetrator, Weiss said.

Scott said most of the feedback he's received about the red-light cameras has been positive, and he hasn't heard about any other incidents of vandalism.

A car knocked over a camera at Valencia Road and South Nogales Highway, and the driver left the scene, but Scott said there's no indication the damage to the camera was intentional.

The cameras are part of the city's photo-enforcement program, which includes cameras at what police consider accident-prone intersections along with a roving photo-radar van that targets speeders. The van is usually deployed near school zones.