by Bryn Mickle | The Flint Journal
GENESEE COUNTY, Michigan -- If you already think
it's easy to get a speeding ticket in Genesee County, just wait. It's about to get even easier.
In the coming weeks, a select group of police agencies across the
county are planning to go online with a new, speedier
"paperless ticket system." Gone will be the days of thick ticket books and barely legible
citations. In their place? In-car computers with laser printers bolted to
the back.
Drivers will still get a paper ticket, but the other five copies
for police and court files will go straight to a computer server. With a swipe of a driver's license and a few button pushes,
officers can type up tickets and within minutes send drivers on
their way with a crystal clear ticket.
That might be little consolation to those getting the tickets,
but police and court officials say the high-tech approach will make
it a lot less painful for everyone involved. Drivers will spend less time sitting in their car while their
ticket is written and won't have to wait a week to pay their fines
and move on. A leadfoot who gets busted going 10 mph over the speed
limit on the way to work will be able to wash his or her hands of
the matter that afternoon with a quick online court payment.
Otisville resident Michael J. Rappuhn is all for it.
Rappuhn, 51, fretted for a week that he would forget to pay a
ticket after he got written up for not wearing a seat belt in
Richfield Township two years ago. Rappuhn marked the first date he could pay on his calendar and
hung the ticket on the wall to make sure he saw it every day. "It was a little nerve-wracking waiting," said Rappuhn.
Those most thrilled about the new system are police and court
workers who see it as a huge time savings. The magnetic strip on the back of a driver's license allows
police to instantly enter a driver's personal information into the
ticket, which means clerks won't have to decipher handwriting and
manually enter the ticket into a court database.
It will also mean an end to police having to write hard enough to
make sure all six copies of a ticket are readable, including the
last copy that goes to the driver. There also will be a lot less paper involved.
"This is the court's way of going green," said Central
District Court Administrator Dena Altheide. The streamlined approach should also result in quicker traffic
stops, cutting some in half.
Vehicle information, personal information -- even the spot of the
infraction -- will all be automated. The only thing the officer will
have to enter is the actual infraction. That's no small time savings, considering Flint Township alone
hands out nearly 400 tickets a month.
So far, the township is among 12 local police departments as well
as the Genesee County weighmaster to embrace the plan. No exact date has been set for the system to go live, and Genesee
County 911 officials expect that it will be phased in over the next
several weeks as each department gets comfortable with the new
technology.
Flint Township police Sgt. Tim Jones said the paperless ticket
technology could eventually be expanded to make it easier to write
up traffic crashes and other incidents. It could also eventually tie in with a system to show how many
times a driver has been stopped in the county but didn't get a
ticket. "This is just one piece of a bigger puzzle," said
Jones.
Whether it goes countywide, however, remains to be seen.
Flint police aren't linked into the county 911 system, and Burton
and other departments have taken a wait and see approach. At a cost of about $900 a car, the paperless system isn't cheap,
and some administrators have expressed reluctance to tie up money in
a new system.
Burton Police Chief John Benthall said he likes the idea but
wants a better look before he makes a budget request for it. "It would be great to get rid of the paper," said
Benthall.
As for Rappuhn, he hopes he doesn't get a chance to experience
the new system firsthand. "I've worn my seat belt ever since," he said.
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