Gotcha!

In Scottsdale, the court date will be less than a month after you receive the ticket. A process server will be assigned to the case about a month after that court date, with a new court date yet another month away. In that case, you can probably start relaxing about three months after you got the ticket. Again, verify your case on the above Web site as often as you like — doing so will neither tip the police off to your game nor count as proper service.

Process servers are supposed to follow rules.

Mike Maas

Giulio Sciorio

Francesca Cisneros achieved infamy last year after getting 70 photo-enforcement tickets.

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More About

• Francesca Cisneros
• Phoenix (Arizona)
• David Pickron
• World Politics
• U.S. State Politics

They are not allowed to simply leave the citation on your doorstep while no one is home. The law says it must be given to either the defendant or a "person of suitable age" (usually interpreted as 14 or older) who also lives at the home. Provisions are made for uncooperative people like Cisneros, but AAA Photo Safety's Pickron said such cases are rare.

"They all have a story and a plan and a game, so when we come to that door, we are at a high disadvantage," he says. "We have to weed through all of the stories, all the garbage, to see if we can leave the ticket or not."

The server tries to make the best decision, knowing that a judge may review the service in court. If the vehicle in the photo is in the driveway and the server can see the defendant through a window, Pickron says, that's good enough. But if the server is looking for a man, he says, and a woman is behind the window but not answering the door, that isn't good enough — because the server can't establish who she is or whether she lives there.

"We don't think everybody's avoiding service," Pickron says. "But then there are times when all the lights are turned on at the house and the garage door's open — but all of a sudden the house goes completely black."

Yet there's no reason for the process server to risk his license by leaving the ticket even in that case, Pickron says. The server would move on to the next house in the area, and come back later.

Process servers work part-time, since their quarry is more often home in the evenings and on weekends.

Pickron says servers only go out to the address that matches the vehicle registration, and if that address is no good, they don't bother to do additional research.

Records show that dozens of photo-ticket defendants only have a post-office box listed on their vehicle registration. While MVD allows auto owners to put a P.O. box as their mailing address, the agency also requires a physical address.

But Pickron and police say the MVD doesn't always put the physical address on the registration. So that's another thing a ticket-evader can try — give the MVD a P.O. box, if there is one. It will probably reduce the odds of service.

All this said, being hunted isn't for everyone, nor is it always possible to put a plan in practice for avoiding service — particularly if you have roommates or a house full of teenagers. Somebody's bound to open the door at the wrong time.

But a reasonable strategy might be to go out more with friends and ask your spouse or live-in not to answer the door unless he or she knows the person knocking. (Not bad advice under any circumstance.)

Some people have lifestyles that make the game a breeze.

"If you're an airline pilot, and you're always out of town, you might get away with it," Pickron says.

One thing to consider is that the process server might cheat. Instead of following the law, he or she might throw the ticket at your doorstep while you're away. Quite possibly, a motorist playing the non-response game would not realize that had happened until after the MVD suspended his driver's license for ignoring service.

But just because you're bending the rules doesn't mean you have to let the process server do it. You can fight back.

Two years ago, Scottsdale resident Sherri Zanoff won her photo-ticket case on appeal after she proved she was on a plane to Costa Rica at the same moment a process server claimed he had handed her a ticket.

Such cheating doesn't happen very often. When it does, the public can file a complaint with the Maricopa County Superior Court. Presiding Judge Anna Baca reviews the complaints. If she decides they're valid, she'll schedule a hearing to find out what happened.

From a photo-enforcement point of view, this means that someone trying to avoid a ticket might get the person trying to serve it fired.

That's what happened last year after one of Pickron's servers went out to the house of Phoenix accountant Al Golusin to deliver a Scottsdale ticket.

Golusin was a bit cagey, even when New Times asked whether he'd received the initial mailing.

"Well, I don't know, maybe I did," he says. "But I can't remember receiving a letter or anything along that line. But if I had, I probably would have disregarded it because of my understanding of the law. I figured I'd just wait for the process server. That was my attitude. I was waiting for the process server."