E-tickets: Boosting police efficiency
System would reduce roadside wait
May make it tougher to challenge fines

Apr. 29, 2006. 07:50 AM
DAVID BRUSER
BUSINESS REPORTER

It's the kind of customer service that some customers won't much appreciate.

A proposed new "e-ticketing" system promises to reduce the amount of time busted drivers in York Region spend on the roadside waiting for their tickets.

"It's faster to produce a ticket — in and out really quickly," said York Regional Police information technology project manager Bernadette Searle. "(We) like to be cutting edge."

But the ticket itself — computer-generated and printed on durable paper — could make it more difficult for drivers to challenge fines.

"You know how it is to read someone's scribbles. Sometimes information is missing. It's not legible. You know, numbers are off, or locations. (But with e-ticketing), it can't be as easily disputed if it's on printed material that's clear and concise," Searle said.

York's police service is looking for vendors and accepting bids for such a system, which Searle said could also reduce human error and increase worker efficiency.

E-ticketing essentially means an officer can use software to electronically create a ticket from a computer and print the tag out at the scene of the violation.

The Ontario Provincial Police says 318 cruisers throughout the province already have a system involving a computer and printer installed in a car. But York is considering taking it a step further with handheld devices that don't tie an officer to the cruiser's console. The portable device could come with a perforated roll of tickets inside an attached compact printer, which would make it usable by motorcycle officers.

In one scenario, the system would allow an officer to swipe a driver's licence, automatically transferring its data to the on-screen ticket template. Then, the officer would need to manually enter only the infraction type and fine before printing.

Searle said that would cut down on the time it takes an officer to hand-write the ticket, which is the current practice in York, Peel and Durham regions, and Toronto.

Last summer, Ottawa's police became the first in Canada to deploy handheld e-ticketing devices, called electronic ticket pads, according to the service's website. In the 416 area, Toronto parking enforcement officers will begin a pilot project this summer to test handheld devices that spit out tickets, and some cruisers will be outfitted with e-ticketing technology.

Searle said the software allows officers to beam the information to court databases and other records, eliminating the need to re-enter the data on a desktop. That's a feature the OPP's system does not yet permit.

"You're reducing the amount of human resources that's needed to do double and triple entry into databases," said York Regional Police Chief Armand La Barge. "That's the secret to success in this day and age, one-time data entry. It makes for a more efficient world."

In addition, York wants its e-tickets printed on thermal paper — the OPP is also considering this — that is difficult to tear or write on.

"Now your proof, (the) information you've got to charge somebody, is (clearer)," Searle said.

Such a system could help a region plagued in the past with the highest ticket-withdrawal rate in the province.

A Toronto Star investigation last year found York Region's withdrawal rate was 49 per cent, based on statistics from 2002 and 2003, which La Barge attributed to a shortage of justices of the peace.

The Star also found that 26 per cent of ticketed York Region motorists contest their tickets in court.

One vendor York Region could attract is Florida-based Advanced Public Safety, which advertises on its website "handheld solutions" that can "issue a ticket/citation with just six -eight `clicks.'