St. Louis County Police Chief Tim Fitch broke ranks Monday by publicly criticizing the Charlack Police Department's impending use of speed cameras along Interstate 170.

Fitch sent letters Monday to legislators and state administrators calling for a moratorium on the use of speed cameras along state-owned roadways, saying the state should determine the best places to put cameras — not municipalities.

The cameras will be a first for Missouri highways. Last week, Charlack police announced that by the end of the month, yellow signs will caution drivers of Charlack's quarter-mile stretch of northbound I-170: "Speed photo enforced."

For two weeks, warnings will be sent to the registered owners of vehicles that are photographed speeding. After that, the city will begin issuing $100 fines.

Fitch also called out Charlack Police Chief Tony Umbertino for providing little proof that the quarter-mile northbound stretch south of St. Charles Rock Road is dangerous enough to warrant the cameras.

"Since traffic accident statistics related to excessive speed were not presented to the public, one can only assume it's because the statistics would not be favorable to the safety argument," Fitch wrote to state Sen. John Griesheimer, R-Washington; Rep. John Diehl, R-Town and Country; and Missouri Department of Transportation Director Pete Rahn.

Umbertino called Fitch's criticism "unethical" and "unusual."

"I was blindsided," Umbertino said. "Police chiefs don't say anything bad about other police chiefs to the media."

Umbertino said he believes Fitch's opposition to Charlack's speed cameras is rooted in Fitch's desire to gain more contracts to provide police services to small municipalities that struggle to afford their own departments. If Charlack and other municipalities make enough money to support their police departments through speed camera fines, Umbertino said, Fitch's plan to consolidate them into a new county police precinct would be moot.

"If he calls my speed camera enforcement a money grab, I will call his plan for consolidation a money grab. He's slinging mud because he wants to stabilize St. Louis County's finances."

Fitch said his motives are based in public safety.

"I'm not muni-bashing," Fitch said. "We have a great relationship with most municipalities that are well-managed with very professional police departments. But if you have to have a police department to generate revenue to keep your city running, that's the wrong reason to have a police department. ... Should your community get rich off of speed cameras?"

In his letters, Fitch asked officials to limit speed cameras to specific, accident-prone areas where vehicles regularly violate posted speed limits.

"Allowing any and all jurisdictions to place speed enforcement cameras on our state roadways will create a hodgepodge of enforcement and may ultimately lead to legislation that may prevent all uses of this type of equipment."

There have been 61 accidents along Charlack's stretch of northbound I-170 over the last five years — none of them fatal, said Tom Blair, assistant district engineer for MoDOT.

That's about two crashes higher than the average, Blair said.

Umbertino said the curve in Charlack's portion of the northbound lanes makes it dangerous.

He said a one-hour study by B&W Sensors, the company that would provide the cameras, showed more than 100 drivers were traveling faster than 75 mph in the 60 mph zone in Charlack.

Fitch said a governing body should use the state's statistics to study roadways and determine where cameras can be most effective. Some municipal police chiefs that patrol state-owned roadways seem to agree.

Bellefontaine Neighbors police patrol a portion of Interstate 270. In 2007, there were 111 accidents; 124 in 2008; 167 in 2009, said Chief Robert Pruett.

"If my city administration looked at the utilization of these cameras and put them in subdivisions, school zones or parks, that's one thing," Pruett said. "But I would rely on the state to determine if they want one on the highway, and I would ask them for input before I did it."

MoDOT's director said the agency already has a moratorium on speed cameras placed in public rights of way. Charlack's camera would be on private property, outside of MoDOT's jurisdiction.

"I don't disagree with speed cameras being used, but I think there needs to be an overall managed approach to it, rather than ad hoc decisions made by communities that may approach them in various ways," Rahn said.

He said Fitch's call for a moratorium was "reasonable."

Griesheimer said he would support a vote for a moratorium in the Senate but believes he has another way to deter municipalities from erecting speed cameras.

Missouri limits how much of a municipality's budget can come from traffic violations. The $100 speed camera violations will be counted much like parking tickets, not traffic violations, allowing the city to collect the fines and still stay within the law.

Griesheimer said he has proposed an amendment to a pending transportation bill to include nonmoving violations along state highways as part of that percentage.

Umbertino said 29 percent of the city's budget comes from traffic violations.