System helps officers, clerks

By Staff
Melissa Cason
Ticket writing time just got faster for local authorities.
The Russellville Police Department has added e-citation systems in three of the cars within the department's fleet in hopes of helping officers and clerks cut out some of the paper waste.
The e-citation system makes writing tickets as easy as swiping a driver's license.
The city got funding for the systems through the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs.
"We applied for this grant through ADECA last year and are just now receiving the equipment," Russellville Police Chief Chris Hargett said.
Russellville Police Officer Bruce Daily is one of the officers who had the system installed in his patrol vehicle.
"Once the license is swiped, it shows us everything that the system has about the driver including warrants, and the driving record for that person," Daily said.
He said the driver information is automatically filled out at the click of the mouse.
Officers can write more than one citation, if appropriate, just by selecting the appropriate boxes.
"It drastically reduces the time taken to write out citations," Hargett said.
"When there are multiple violations, the system reduces the time drastically because the officer doesn't have to write out a citation for each violation."
Once the citation is completed, it is printed and automatically sent to Montgomery to be recorded.
Hargett said the department received the equipment a few weeks ago and the officers went to training last week in Tuscaloosa to learn how to use it.
"The equipment easily costs over $1,000 for each vehicle," the chief said.
The department will be looking at getting more e-citation systems in the coming months.