San Luis police get new technology for issuing traffic tickets
September 03, 2010 3:27 PM
SAN LUIS, Ariz. — In another month, if you get pulled over here for a traffic offense, new technology will cut the time it takes the police to write you a ticket.
San Luis police officers will be using hand readers that will allow them to take details from the driver's license in a process officials say will also be more environmentally friendly.
The system is part of a series of upgrades in the city's municipal court system, said city Judge Rosendo Morales, adding that almost $51,000 is being invested in this phase of the improvements.
Eight of the readers are being issued, with four going to the San Luis Police Department, another three to Department of Public Safety officers assigned in the area of the city, and one to the state Department of Motor Vehicle for use at the U.S. Port of Entry at San Luis, the judge said.
Once the system is in place, an officer who has stopped a motorist for a traffic violation will ask for the driver's license, and either swipe the bar code on the document with the reader or slide the license through a slot in the reader, Morales said.
The reader will record information from the driver's license, leaving only the motorist's signature to be added manually. The officer will then hook the reader up to a printer port in the patrol car, where a copy of the citation will be printed for the motorist.
Back at the police station at the end of the patrol shift, the officer will feed the information from the reader into a computer system that will record the ticket information and provide it to the Municipal Court's computer system.
Morales said the San Luis Municipal Court will be the first in Yuma County to use the new computerized system, which he said will reduce use of paper and cut the time it costs officers to write infractions.
“This is part of a program of greater use of technology in the court,” he said. “In fact, we are in the process of completly digitalizing our archives, and that will make our work easier and will facilitate attorneys' access to information for their cases.”
He estimated that the new system will reduce the time spent issuing infractions from 20 or 25 minutes to four or five minutes, freeing up officers to handle calls for service or emergencies.
Revenue from court fines and other payments to the court are going to pay for the system, which is being provided to the city by Advanced Public Safety, a Florida firm.
San Luis police officers will be using hand readers that will allow them to take details from the driver's license in a process officials say will also be more environmentally friendly.
The system is part of a series of upgrades in the city's municipal court system, said city Judge Rosendo Morales, adding that almost $51,000 is being invested in this phase of the improvements.
Eight of the readers are being issued, with four going to the San Luis Police Department, another three to Department of Public Safety officers assigned in the area of the city, and one to the state Department of Motor Vehicle for use at the U.S. Port of Entry at San Luis, the judge said.
Once the system is in place, an officer who has stopped a motorist for a traffic violation will ask for the driver's license, and either swipe the bar code on the document with the reader or slide the license through a slot in the reader, Morales said.
The reader will record information from the driver's license, leaving only the motorist's signature to be added manually. The officer will then hook the reader up to a printer port in the patrol car, where a copy of the citation will be printed for the motorist.
Back at the police station at the end of the patrol shift, the officer will feed the information from the reader into a computer system that will record the ticket information and provide it to the Municipal Court's computer system.
Morales said the San Luis Municipal Court will be the first in Yuma County to use the new computerized system, which he said will reduce use of paper and cut the time it costs officers to write infractions.
“This is part of a program of greater use of technology in the court,” he said. “In fact, we are in the process of completly digitalizing our archives, and that will make our work easier and will facilitate attorneys' access to information for their cases.”
He estimated that the new system will reduce the time spent issuing infractions from 20 or 25 minutes to four or five minutes, freeing up officers to handle calls for service or emergencies.
Revenue from court fines and other payments to the court are going to pay for the system, which is being provided to the city by Advanced Public Safety, a Florida firm.
