Police Aim To Be On Cutting Edge
The Lake in the Hills police department will participate in McHenry County’s implementation of computerized ticketing in police cars. Lake in the Hills Police Chief James Wales notes the new system could cut the time officers spend writing tickets by four to five minutes per ticket.
The system can retrieve driver’s information and print out citations in the squad car after the driver’s license number and the offense is entered by the officer. The system responds to voice command, so officers will be able to check on motorists while driving.
“This will not only enhance officer safety, but certainly minimize errors overall,” says Wales.
The police department is requesting $17,197 in funding to purchase laptop computers for linking its 12 squad cars to the Illinois secretary of state’s office and the McHenry County circuit clerk’s office, while the county itself is trying to secure a federal grant to fund the system’s backbone.
The deployment of the system would eliminate the clerk’s office’s need for personnel to enter ticket information into state and county records.
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center(NLECTC) from the Chicago Daily Herald (03/24/04) P. 3; Ray, Scott .