A St. James man finds himself in some trouble. According to police, 26-year-old Bryan Valentine was seen by a person passing by placing plastic bags over cameras at the intersection of Main Street and Landing Avenue in Smithtown, Long Island. Valentine was later arrested nearby by police around 5:30 pm.

Valentine is charged with two counts of second-degree criminal tampering, and was held overnight at the Fourth Precinct and will be arraigned in court on Saturday, April 9 in Central Islip.

A Centereach man was arrested last summer for tampering with red light cameras in Ronkonoma, pointing them toward the sky. Stephen Ruth posted a video of himself on Facebook and YouTube that received over 150,000 views.

Some may see both Valentine and Ruth are both heroes for their actions -- red light cameras are annoying, but they did tamper with government property. "Red light cameras do more harm than good. My friend got a ticket for passing a light that was red for .1 second. When people slam their brakes for a yellow, it gives the people behind them more of a chance to rear end them," said James Orban of Holtsville.

"I think red light cameras are fair. Running red lights is dangerous. Red light cameras encourage people to slow down at yellow instead of trying to beat the light. My only accident was because someone ran a red light," said Kaitlin McNamera of Sayville.

On Long Island, fines for a red light ticket are $50, plus a $30 administrative fee, but do not add points to the drivers license. Red light cameras have been a huge controversy ever since they were put up. Some will argue that it does stop people from violating traffic laws, while some people believe the cameras are unfair, and they are only there to take the people's money.

There are currently over 45 locations on the Island with red light cameras. It has been argued that red light cameras are rigged to trap drivers. Back in October 2015, there was a request issued to suspend the cameras, which has not gone far.

Some ask whether the red light cameras help prevent accidents, or worsen them. According to AAA spokesman, Robert Sinclair, drivers “are in the frame of mind that it’s a yellow, I have to stop or I get a ticket, then you wind up creating nearly as bad a situation as the one you are trying to prevent” (Gusoff, CBS). According to Sinclair, 95 percent of the tickets given are due to people making a right turn on red.

Another controversy is that there are some lights that stay yellow for a shorter amount of time at some intersections, than in others. AAA said the criteria of speed and the size of the intersection determine the length of a yellow light, and shorter yellow lights can cause accidents. The bigger the intersection, the shorter amount of time the light stays yellow. The smaller the intersection, the longer the light stays yellow. This is with intent that the big intersections hold more potential for big accidents to occur.

So the question becomes, are red light cameras fair?