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Tech Helps Glendale, Calif., Police Streamline Traffic Tickets, Accident Reports

New devices let officers swipe a driver’s license and automatically populate a motorist’s details on a ticket instead of writing the information by hand.

(TNS) -- A new hand-held device for Glendale officers will streamline the process of writing traffic tickets, but the local police chief is stressing the goal is to boost efficiency, not to cite more drivers.

The Glendale City Council on Tuesday voted 5-0 to spend about $100,000 on 20 new traffic-citation devices that let officers swipe a driver’s license and automatically populate a motorist’s details on a ticket instead of writing the information by hand.

The ticket is then printed out. The devices can also be used to make accident reports.

A lot of time will be saved because officers will no longer have to manually enter tickets into police department records, said Glendale Police Chief Rob Castro.

“At the end of their shift or sometime during their shift, they would have to come off the street and manually enter the data into the record system,” he told council members.

So much work had piled up that a contractor had to be hired for data entry, Castro said.

The tech upgrade will electronically store the recorded data, he said.

Castro implemented a similar upgrade at his past job heading the Glendora Police Department, and he discovered how much of a timesaver it was.

The device also electronically transmits information to a courthouse, rather than manually having to deliver paperwork, Castro said.

“If we were called to defend the citation, this will be a way we can definitely do that in a much more efficient manner,” he said.

But speeding up the time it takes to write a ticket doesn’t necessarily mean more of them will be issued.

Castro said he urges his officers to give a verbal warning when they can, which is almost equal to the number of citations officers issue on Glendale streets.

“Officers would be able to write more citations. It’s going to be an easier system, but we’ll still use the same common-sense approach that I profess to them,” he told the News-Press. “We use traffic enforcement as a tool.”

Councilwoman Paula Devine said she was receptive of the upgraded technology because it will give police more time to patrol the streets.

“This is about saving police time, allowing them to do their jobs and watching for bigger crimes and violations than a traffic ticket,” she said.

Castro said the devices will be rolled out in about 90 days and, if they prove effective, more of them will be ordered.

©2015 the Glendale News-Press (Glendale, Calif.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.