SAN DIEGO (AP) - Cameras designed to nab drivers who run red lights have yielded a wave of outcry since cities across the country began installing the technology.

Cities have been sued, cameras have been shot up and the technology has been labeled a devious tactic meant to pad cities' coffers.

But experts say the fiercest opposition has been in San Diego, where lawyers, seeking dismissal of 398 tickets, have spent the past two weeks blasting the cameras in court as an illegal intrusion on citizens' rights.

"It's such a massive fraud on the public," attorney Christopher Plourd said. "If we can knock this off here, we can protect other people from this organized rip-off."

Since San Diego launched its camera system three years ago, 84,000 tickets have been issued at $271 each. The police union denounced them after five on-duty officers received citations. The city dismissed hundreds of tickets and hired an auditor to evaluate the program after three cameras proved to be inaccurate.

"We don't think anyone got a ticket who didn't deserve one," said deputy city attorney Steve Hansen. "But right now the whole program is on hold pending the outcome of the audit."

At least 50 cities use the traffic system in which the cameras snap photos of vehicles that drive through red lights and then the registered owners are sent citations.

Cameras reduce the number of red-light runners, which cause an estimated 800 deaths and 200,000 injuries in the United States each year, said Michele Fields, general counsel for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

"When you go ask people, upward of 75 to 80 percent say they support red-light cameras," Fields said.

But there has been plenty of opposition, which is fed by talk radio, politicians with a Libertarian bent and Internet sites that discuss how to beat the tickets.

"I'm not just going to roll over," said Rick Guido, a lawyer whose citation could get dismissed in the San Diego challenge. "At least I'll get my day in court."

Rep. Dick Armey, the House majority leader, accused cities of using the cameras to generate revenue and trapping drivers by shortening yellow light times.

A North Carolina man sued the city of High Point claiming the cameras unlawfully require drivers to prove their innocence, are faulty and motivated by profit not safety.

Someone fired 15 shots at the first camera system to go into operation in Paradise Valley, Ariz., in May, shattering the glass and rendering it inoperable.

In San Diego, three lawyers made final arguments Wednesday in the case, which seeks to dismiss 398 tickets on grounds similar to those raised in the North Carolina suit and that the cameras violate state law because the system is actually operated by a private company.

"I don't think it's for safety. It's for revenue," said Jill Bucciarelli, 46, of Cardiff, whose red-light ticket was dismissed because of the inaccuracy.

Lockheed Martin IMS installs and maintains the cameras in San Diego and in more than 30 other cities. The company gets $70 per ticket and the city receives $73, with the rest going to various state funds and for police training.

The challenge, really just an extremely large traffic court trial, will have no direct legal effect on other jurisdictions, though lawyer Arthur Tait said their arguments could be repeated elsewhere.

If the judge rules against them, the lawyers plan to seek 19 separate trials, one for each intersection, in a continued effort to drive the cameras out of the city, lawyer Coleen Cusack said. A decision is expected by next month.

"We can't just sit still and allow these invasions of our liberties," she said.