Public Notice Detail
Washington County Courts, Police Launch Paperless Ticketing System
Posted: Friday, January 19, 2001
The ACS is believed to be the first of its kind in the United States. Washington County District Court, in collaboration with the Washington County Sheriff’s Department and other local law enforcement departments, will launch the ACS in the Bayport and Forest Lake areas within the next month. The system is already operational in the Oak Park Heights, Woodbury, Stillwater, St. Paul Park, Newport and Oakdale areas.
To issue citations, police officers will now use mobile data terminals in their squad cars, which are also equipped with printers. Ticket information is sent to police computers electronically from the squad cars and is then sent overnight to the court’s computers. The only paper produced in the automated system will be given to the driver as a record of the violation.
Automation will reduce the time from ticket issuance to court filing from as many as 12 days to within 24 hours. The system’s ability to automatically schedule court dates will allow court officials to avoid overcrowded traffic court calendars. Court officials expect to free up the time of about two full-time positions. Instead of verifying tickets, entering data into computers and manually filing paper citations, court employees will now be able to address other vital administrative tasks. Also, the ACS eliminates human errors because it does not require law enforcement and court staff to enter information into computers multiple times.
“Aside from the fact that the system will save us a tremendous amount of time, it ensures that the name, address and statute that was violated is going to be accurate in our records,” said Joni Morris, deputy court administrator for Washington County District Court. “Accuracy is a problem because handwritten citations can be difficult to read and sometimes the violation description contained in a citation fails to match up with one of the hundreds of traffic statutes.”
Prior to this system, officers handwrote traffic tickets and relied on their memories and notes to match statutes with violations committed. Following their shift, officers delivered carbon copies of the tickets to their headquarters, where information was keyed into computers. Law enforcement employees then prepared the tickets, copies of officers’ notes and the results of driving records searches for delivery to Court Administration. Officers delivered citations to courthouses themselves, sometimes driving as many as 50 miles.
Once citations reached Court Administration, staff sorted citations by date, verified citation information, keyed information into computers and assigned court dates. This led to influxes of court appearances on days following concentrated police patrols or high-ticket weekends.
But the ACS requires that information be entered only once - by the officer. It will automatically send driving records and officers’ notes with citations to Court Administration, and it will immediately schedule court appearances or fines for the motorists, who receive that information instantly on their printed tickets at the time of their traffic stops.
Hennepin and Ramsey counties, as well as other U.S. cities, have used handheld computers to issue parking citations since the mid-1980s. In 1988, Ventura County, Ca. implemented one of the most successful automated systems for moving violations, which has reduced officer data entry, shortened traffic stops, reduced errors, helped to speed cases to court and increased fine revenues.
However, Washington County’s ACS is unique because it uses police vehicle Mobile Data Units to transmit ticket information to police and court computers.
The Washington County project was paid for by a $96,000 grant from the Minnesota Board of Government Innovation and Cooperation and is being implemented by the District Court, the Minnesota Supreme Court Information Technology Division, the Washington County Sheriff’s Department, Washington County Information Services and local police departments.
“Part of the beauty of this is that all of these agencies worked so hard together to accomplish this,” Morris said. “In the end, the system saves time and money for everyone involved, and it provides better public service and better use of taxpayer money.”\
The ACS is not a formal component of the integrated Criminal Justice Information System (CriMNet) under development in Minnesota. But it is an example of how sharing information among criminal justice organizations can increase efficiency and accuracy, said Dale Good, director of the Supreme Court Information Technology Division.
“Washington County has figured out the missing piece to the puzzle: cooperation,” Good said. “Working together and sharing information is the foundation of CriMNet and the catalyst for a more efficient and effective criminal justice system.”