Grant Will Enable Redwood City Police to Transition to Electronic Citation System

REDWOOD CITY, CA – Redwood City Police Department has been awarded a $32,000 grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) for a year-long program involving the transition from traditional carbon copy citations to an electronic format. Redwood City Police Department will use the funding as part of the city’s ongoing commitment to keep our roadways safe and improve the quality of life through both enforcement and education.

In response to the award, Chief Gamez of the Redwood City Police Department stated, “We are excited to begin implementing a system that will make it easier for members of the public to read and understand issued traffic citations, and we look forward to partnering with the courts to be able to electronically transmit the data with the hope of making the entire process more efficient and customer friendly. We are grateful to OTS for granting us the opportunity to be on the forefront of this transition.”

For years, law enforcement agencies have been frustrated by the challenge of collecting timely and accurate data from accident reports, traffic citations, and vehicle inspections. Manually collected data have historically contained errors of content and omission. Sometimes the data could not be collected at all due to smudges or poor handwriting on the paperwork. This problem is compounded by the need for multiple layers of data entry from different parties within the agencies. Currently, an estimated 10 percent of all citations the courts receive annually contain errors due to misspelling, poor handwriting, smudged copies, and inconsistencies between violation codes and descriptions. Electronic citation technology has the ability to eliminate most, if not all, of these types of errors by using existing information found on driver’s license magnetic strips or state databases.

Electronic citation technology promises other benefits as well, from saving time and reducing costs, to increasing officer efficiency. The current paper system used in most jurisdictions takes an average of 12 days4 to process a citation and send it to the court. This process can now be done seamlessly within seconds. Finally, once the infrastructure is paid for, an electronic citation system promises to be a cost-effective solution since it will eliminate a great deal of overhead associated with clerical tasks, thereby reducing the costs to the public for safety services and/or allowing those funds to be diverted to more important issues.

Funding for this program is from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

– SUBMITTED FOR PUBLICATION BY: Redwood City Police Department