Ticket pad use could see end

By BRIAN BARBER World Staff Writer

9/20/2007

Police have proposed switching to an electronic system, which they say would save thousands of hours.

Tulsa police could issue tickets electronically by the start of next year under a proposal being considered by the administration and City Council.

"I think this would improve public safety -- not in a small way, but in a big way," Councilor John Eagleton said during this week's council committee meetings.

At present, officers write all tickets by hand, which takes time -- about 20 minutes for a single citation.

Electronic ticketing could cut that time to eight minutes, freeing officers for more enforcement time.

With 500 officers writing about 120,000 citations a year, a 12-minute savings for each ticket amounts to 24,000 hours of additional police time.

Such a system also could reduce the 25 percent of tickets that cannot be prosecuted because they are lost, illegible because of poor handwriting or missing information.

Officer Will Dalsing of the Police Department's Crime Analysis, Planning, Evaluation and Research Section said electronic ticketing had been discussed for years.

"We see it as a way for the officers to do their jobs more effectively," he said.

"Most major departments have gone electronic. The issue for us has been funding."

The proposal, drafted by police officials, breaks the $2.3 million project into four phases.

The first phase would spend $300,000 for 50 devices, the hardware and software, wireless services and training.

Once any issues are resolved, additional devices would be phased in until 500 are in service. The timeline would be 16 to 26 months.

Councilor Bill Martinson said he supported the idea but questioned whether the department could buy fewer devices that would be shared by officers on different shifts.

Officer Jay Chiarito-Mazzarella, who is working on the project, said officers once shared radios years ago.

"Our shifts overlap, and what we found was that a lot of time was spent waiting for the handoff," he said. "That's not a good use of an officer's time."

City Budget Director Pat Connelly said officials were trying to identify a source of funding. He asked for four weeks until the matter is brought back to the council.

Eagleton, who has pushed to fund additional police positions through ticket-writing, said that once the investment is made in the system, it should end up making more money for the city. "I think it's a brilliant solution to a budgetary dilemma," he said.

Brian Barber 581-8322

brian.barber@tulsaworld.com

Copyright Tulsa World 2007. Format differs from original publication.

Comments

[Tayla Brown]

I disagree with this...it maybe better for the officers, but what about the citzens?
I just see this as a way for lawenforcement to write more tickets...because they want more money. It is all about the money!!

I would feel much safter if the officers were out in the neighborhoods where all the violent crimes are taking place, and just driving up and down those streets. Take the 'really' bad guys off the streets...you know...the murderers, sexual criminals, etc....
Stop worrying about the person going 10 miles over the posted speed limit, not wearing a seatbelt, following too close...bull**** tickets that are only and all about the money they bring in.
I would rather be passed by a guy doing 80 on the highway (I'll just move the **** out of his way), than to have some loser next door shooting at some other loser over a dope deal gone wrong (and have a stray bullet hit a little 3 year old child playing in his yard!).

Make me feel safe...take the felony's off the street.

[Buckeye]

Sounds like a good idea. City Council, PLEASE buy the force as many machines as it needs, sharing something like that is a big pain in the butt. 25% of tickets are not prosecutable because of bad handwriting and so forth? I have a hard time believing that! And somebody tell Eagleton to give it up on that police funding directly from tickets idea. Do we want traffic cops operating like commissioned salesmen? No thanks...

[Jerome]

Tayla,
You are missing the point here. Tickets are written to prevent senseless deaths. Traffic wrecks due to speed and alcohol kill more people than all the violent crime combined. If officers are writing these tickets quicker, they will be in the neighborhoods more. In addition, how do you think these felons are caught? Almost all of them are caught in cars. Cars are stopped using the traffic law. It's the bigger picture here!

[Officer Jay]

Hopefully, I can clarify some concerns…

The police department does not directly receive ANY money from writing tickets. That money from tickets goes to the City of Tulsa “General Fund” and is used to pay for all things municipal: public transportation, streets and sidewalks, public parks, city administration, schools, infrastructure repairs (and hopefully someday, improvements), etc.

That said, and truth be told, about 66% of the General Fund is consumed by Public Safety Departments, that includes 911 Service & Emergency Management, The Fire Department, EMSA (ambulance services), and the Police Department (but roughly only 28% goes to the Police Department, the other 72% is used for all the other services and departments) [Source: “Municipal Revenues & Fiscal Restraints,” City Council Chairman Bill Martinson, March 8, 2007].

The City Council (and others) primarily determines how General Fund monies are appropriated. In short, no department gets a nickel unless the City Council approves it. So, don’t fret, a cop writing a ticket is not (nor ever will be) a “commissioned salesman/woman” of any sort.

Also, the electronic devices really do save time—time that can be used to do other things. I can only speak for myself, but I’d rather do as little paperwork as possible. And if that leaves me with more time to sneak around, scare unwitting felons, and take them to jail—the better!

I know a lot of officers that are really looking forward to no longer wasting time to write tickets, but write the ones they need to write more quickly, and have more time to do more important things.