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Sheriff’s department looks to streamline ticket process |
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Wednesday, June 11 2008 |
By CHRIS MEYERS
Staff writer
Getting a speeding ticket is not an experience drivers enjoy, but for ticketed motorists in Whitley County the experience could be much shorter in the future — kind of like pulling a Band-Aid off fast to get the pain out of the way.
Dubbed the “e-ticket” program, deputies would use scanners similar to those in grocery stores, and scan drivers’ licenses in their cars.
“Eventually, the state wants to go to a system where everything comes in electronically,” Whitley County Sheriff Mark Hodges said of the program.
Nearly all the information needed during a traffic stop can be pulled up by using the scanners.
“All the information instantly pops up on the computer,” Hodges said.
Using an in-car computer and printer, the deputies can print off the tickets in their cars and send copies electronically directly to the prosecutor’s office to be filed.
Hodges said there are a few bits of information deputies will still have to enter manually into the computer, but overall, the process has been made much more simple and efficient.
“The process of writing the ticket can be reduced to less than a minute,” he said of an average stop without any problems.
Currently, stops take about six to 10 minutes, depending on how easily dispatchers can get ID returns and get that information to the deputies.
There are currently some issues with the system when it comes to getting info from out-of-state licenses that may not have bar codes on them.
To Hodges, it’s not only about ways to speed up the process, but also ways to help improve deputy safety by not having drivers and deputies stopped along a busy road for any longer than necessary.
Hodges and other Whitley County Sheriff’s Department staff recently attended a class about the e-ticket program and could be in the running for a grant to help significantly lower the costs.
There is no guarantee the department would get the grant, and the number of tickets the department writes also affects the chances of getting it.
If the department does go forward with the program and is successful with the grant application, each unit for the new system would cost about $175.
Any deputies that don’t have the systems in their cars would have to send the tickets electronically upon their next stop at the sheriff’s department.
The Indiana State Police currently use the e-ticket system.
From the prosecution side of things, e-tickets help make the resolution of the infractions smoother and offers more information for prosecutors handling the cases, according to D.J. Sigler, deputy prosecutor for Whitley County.
He also views the lack of as much paper needed for the entire process as an improvement.
For those in the county clerk’s office who have to process the tickets and enter them into court records, employees said the e-ticket system isn’t greatly different from processing traditional tickets at the moment, but that could be changing.
State employees are working on a system that would have all tickets downloaded electronically into the local court system’s computers, eliminating some of the paper involved and streamlining the overall process. |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, June 12 2008 )
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