PHOENIX -- Many Valley businesses are suffering because of the slow economy, but Scottsdale-based American Traffic Solutions is an exception.

It's one of the companies behind speed cams and red light photo enforcement cameras.

Chief Executive Officer Jim Tuton said demand is high because cities and towns are suffering with the economy.

"Cities and towns are pressured right now. They don't have the money to hire more police officers and buy infrastructure to enable law enforcement to be as effective as it can be by leveraging technologies," Tuton said.

Tuton said the cameras have been very successful, creating a big market and some stiff competition.

American Traffic Solutions, which provided the first-ever traffic camera in Paradise Valley, has flourished. It has picked up 11 new contracts in six states in just the first few months of 2008. Tuton said they expect to announce several more contracts in the next few weeks.

"We're growing now at the rate of about 100 percent per year," he says.

Tuton said his company gets a lot of business from cities on tight budgets because the cities don't have to pay up front. They can use the money that comes in from speeders and red light violators to pay for the systems instead of passing the costs on to taxpayers or taking money from the general fund.

"We have about 400 employees. We could double that again in the next year and a half or so, so our challenge is hiring," Tuton said.

He said people who call the cameras controversial are way off base and that numbers show about 80 percent of people favor camera enforcement.