State police embrace electronic ticket system

Many motorists know the age-old speeding ticket routine – get pulled over, wait at least 10 minutes for an officer to write a barely legible citation and hope to remember to mail a check within 15 days.

But fumbling with carbon copies and postage stamps might soon be a thing of the past. By the end of the month, the Maryland State Police, which issues a third of all speeding tickets issued in the state, plans to deploy an electronic citation system, and law enforcement agencies in almost 30 other jurisdictions have expressed interest in doing the same, police and court officials say.

The agencies are following the lead of New Carrollton, whose police department in December became the first agency in Maryland to become certified by the District Court to issue e- citations. The state police – which issues almost 500,000 of the state’s 1.5 million traffic tickets a year – received certification Wednesday, said Roberta Warnken, assistant chief clerk of the District Court.

Police and court officials say the electronic system is more accurate and efficient, and decreases the time officers spend on traffic stops, which can be time-consuming and dangerous. Advocates dismiss concerns that the new system will lead to police issuing more tickets, saying agencies can instead free officers for more productive functions.

“If we’re not taking the time to write citations, we can be more proactive and prevent why we’re giving citations out in the first place,” said Cpl. Chris Corea of the state police, who developed the agency’s software.

Maryland is catching up with much of the country. In 2003, almost 30 states had an e-citation program or had begun implementing one, according to a federal assessment.

In May, Gov. Martin O’Malley signed a bill authorizing electronic citations and removing the requirement for a violator’s signature to acknowledge receipt of a ticket. The law requires a standard form for e-citations throughout the state and certification of software programs by the District Court.

One hurdle has been cost. Local agencies keep none of the $90 million a year the state collects in traffic revenue, and instead must rely on departmental funds or grant money to make the move to e-citations. The cost of equipping a state police cruiser is about $1,000, Corea said.

“The first thing that everybody said is, ‘Who’s going to pay for it?’” said Sgt. Richard Hartnett of the New Carrollton Police Department.

The Governor’s Office of Crime Control and Prevention created a $1 million grant for the e-citation program, giving agencies until November to apply for money.

New Carrollton has been issuing e-citations since December after running a pilot program for several months. Seven of the department’s 13 cruisers are equipped to issue e-citations, at a cost of about $500 each for printers and scanners.

During a traffic stop, the officer runs a check on the tag number. The computer retrieves driver’s license and registration details, and after the officer selects charges from a drop-down list, the statute and fine information are filled in automatically. The only fields the officer has to complete manually are the charges and location of the stop.

“Getting a ticket is an unpleasant experience in the first place,” said Hartnett, who heads his department’s technical services division. “Why are we going to make it worse by detaining [drivers] longer?”

Hartnett designed New Carrollton’s software. He said officer safety has been his primary motivation.

“The more time we spend on the side of the road, the more chance we’re going to get injured,” he said.

The state police created its own software. Cruisers are outfitted with driver’s license scanners that retrieve data on open warrants and criminal history of drivers from all but four states, Corea said. The agency has run a pilot program since August, with about 80 troopers issuing warnings. About 14,000 charges have passed through the system without difficulty, Corea said.

E-citations require three to four minutes to complete, regardless of the number of charges, meaning less time stopped on the roadside for the trooper and the motorist. “That’s the intention. It’s officer safety, violator safety,” Corea said. “It just takes a second for them to get hit out there.”

About 20 agencies have inquired about using the state police program once it is completed, Corea said. Driver data from all participating agencies would go onto one server, accessible by computers in cruisers. With the traditional speeding-ticket ritual, a citation has five carbon copies. In the case of multiple charges the officer would have to fill out citations for each violation. Each takes eight to 12 minutes to complete, and officers often must look up statutes and appropriate fines.

Drivers must sign the citations to acknowledge receipt, which officers say can cause conflict because drivers often equate signing with admitting guilt. Refusing to sign can result in arrest.

Police departments typically mail or deliver citations in bulk to District Court offices in Annapolis, where they are entered into a computer by a staff of about 20.

Many tickets are thrown out because of illegibility, said Chief District Court Judge Ben C. Clyburn. If the violator mailed payment for a discarded ticket, the court must process a refund. If a violator has paid the fine within 10 days of the court date, officers have no way of knowing that and often show up in court, he said.

The District Court database, which had to be built from scratch to process e-citations, cost $1.5 million, most of which was paid for with federal funds, Clyburn said.

With the new software, violators have been able to pay fines online since October.

The Rockville Police Department is among agencies planning to use the state police program, said Nancy Harris, a senior technical specialist with the District Court. Others, such as Howard County police, are considering contracting an outside vendor to create new software.

Del. Christopher B. Shank, a Republican from Washington County, has opposed speed cameras, saying that they are “just a way to get revenue.” But similar suspicion about e-citations is unwarranted, he said.

“I think it’s a quicker, safer way of processing tickets,” said Shank, the House minority whip. “From a budgetary standpoint, it makes a lot of sense.”