Howard County Speed Camera Torched

A portable speed camera was set on fire near Glenelg High School in Glenelg early Saturday morning, and now police are offering a $500 reward for information about the incident.

Police found the camera on fire in the 14000 block of Burntwoods Road around 5 a.m. on Saturday and were able to extinguish the flames.

Arson investigators later determined the fire was intentionally set, according to police. The vendor will pay for a new camera, although the cost of the fire hasn't been determined, said police.

The portable camera was one of two cameras deployed by police at the beginning of the school year. The two cameras are rotated among 13 schools where the county's speed camera vans can't be used safely.

Police said the vendor will have a new camera deployed Monday by the start of school.

The Glenelg incident is the latest in a series of speed camera vandalism incidents in Maryland. There were two incidents reported earlier this year of someone spray painting black paint on cameras. In June of last year an Ellicott City man was arrested for shooting marbles at one of the Howard County speed vans, and in April of 2012, a speed camera on Rolling Road in Catonsville was torched causing $13,000 in damages.