Tickets could take less time

GENTRY -- If Gentry Police Department is successful with a new grant application, speeding motorists and ticketing officers might be able to get back on the road more quickly.

The council on March 2 gave Keith Smith, Gentry's police chief, approval to apply for a $20,000 Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department grant to purchase a paperless ticketing system called eCite. The system, Smith says, is already being used by the Arkansas State Police and is coming for all law enforcement agencies. Highfill Police Department is using it, he said. And the court system, too, is set up for the electronic ticket system.

Instead of copying driver's license and vehicle registration information into a ticket book by hand and listing the location, date and violations, along with code numbers, the new system would allow officers to swipe the driver's license and simply select the appropriate charges, verify and issue the citation, Smith explained.

The system would use auto fill to complete information from a database of previous contacts with the driver, Smith said, and would also alert officers of criminal history information important to officer safety. He said the system is already tied in to the Arkansas Criminal Information System and that municipal laws could be added as well.

Then, instead of submitting paper copies of the notice to appear to the court, information would be automatically downloaded from the patrol car when at the station and uploaded to the courts.

According to Smith, agencies using the eCite system love it.

eCite would cut down the time required for issuing a traffic citation from 18 to 20 minutes to 3 to 5 minutes, Smith said.

Though not sure on the details, Smith said the system would allow officers to obtain much needed criminal history information directly, without the need to go through a dispatch center. Officers would also be able to see immediately other stops and citations issued to the stopped driver by other officers and agencies using the system.

Smith estimated eCite could be installed in the department's nine primary patrol vehicles for just under the $20,000 and said he thought the system would be of benefit to the city by getting officers back on patrol and make the traffic citation process safer for officers and those stopped by reducing the time they are stopped along the side of the road.

The council encouraged Smith to apply for the grant and Smith said, should the department be successful in the application process, he would bring the matter back to the council to approve the acceptance of the grant and the purchase of the system.