Willow Glen Resident

News

Citations go paperless, funds OK'd to buy electronic handheld device

By Monica Heger

From e-tickets to online bill paying, everything is going paperless, including the San Jose Police Department.

The San Jose City Council on Aug. 29 unanimously approved the allocation of $800,000 for the purchase of an electronic citation system for the police department.

The system will enable officers to issue electronic citations and store the information on an electronic handheld device that can be uploaded into the police department's database.

Police Chief Rob Davis said the system will enhance the department's efficiency.

"We want to leverage technology to assist us in our staffing," Davis said.

The handheld devices will have the ability to scan a driver's license, capture electronic signatures and thumbprints and take photographs. The devices will also be coordinated with the Santa Clara Superior Court system. Councilman Chuck Reed was concerned about the legalities of having only electronic copies of citations, but the technology will still allow for a hard copy of the citation to be printed out. This format will be available for individuals who protest citations in court.

Lt. Ruben Chavez said in cities that currently issue electronic citations there have not been any legal challenges.

The technology will also enable officers to identify problem intersections--those that have the most accidents or red light violations. Officers will also be able to tell if there are patterns to the violators, for example, if these violators are commuters coming from outside the neighborhood or are residents of a nearby neighborhood. Davis said the technology will cut down on both time and human error.

Approximately 10,000 of the 100,000 citations issued annually contain errors and must be returned to the officer who issued the citation for correction. Also the data from the citations have to be manually entered into the police database, which increases the likelihood of human error and is time-consuming.

"We've been looking toward this for years," Davis said. "Because we are in a tight fiscal situation, this is a priority. This is clearly low-hanging fruit."

Some council members were concerned about the prospect of signing for a citation electronically. Councilwoman Linda LeZotte said some people do not like giving their signature electronically when buying groceries and are uncomfortable scrawling an illegible name on the screen. She voiced her concern about the community's reaction to providing their signatures electronically to the police department.

Vice Mayor Cindy Chavez was also concerned about security. She said the idea that potentially someone could get into the database and change a police report was disconcerting.

Chavez said the police department has planned outreach into the community, and assured the council the devices would be password-protected and the database would not be available online.