Small Oklahoma Police Departments Starting To Go Digital

Electronic ticketing has, up until now, been out of reach for small town Oklahoma police departments, because of the costs.

That's changing, and even in Porter, they're getting a couple of the devices, so they can scan a driver's license and issue tickets in just a few minutes.

There's not a lot of traffic in Porter, but the police department - with typically one officer on duty at a time - still issues between 30 and 60 tickets a month.

"On a traffic stop, if we're issuing multiple citations for multiple violations, the officer has to complete multiple tickets with the same information for each one of those violations," said Chief Darryl Jay.

That paperwork ends up on the desk of City Clerk Shirley Herring, who has to figure out the handwriting before rewriting it all for city records.

"And then after that, I write it down in another book, the court docket book, to show who is going to be in court docket that night. And then after that, I go over to the computer and type that in, so we'll have a list to give to the judge for the court docket," Herring said.

9/20/2010 Related Story: Sand Springs Police Department Saves Thousands Using Electronic Ticketing Program

That's all soon going to be changed by Porter going electronic.

The officers are being trained to use the new system, which will cost the department just $500 a month, because they're going in with other cities to buy in bulk.

The system is being adopted by the larger Wagoner Police Department and nearby Fort Gibson, as well.

"If we going out on our own, it would be thousands and thousands of dollars out of our budget, just for that," Jay said.

Porter is the smallest police department going electronic with Digiticket.

The chief figures they'll save time now and save money eventually. He predicts electronic ticketing will quickly become the new standard for every department.

"If we can take two or three guys in the street and maximize their time and their productivity, while making them safer, it's almost like getting another employee at very low cost," said Cory Box, with Digiticket.

The Digiticket system will go online in Porter first, then in Wagoner and Fort Gibson, later this spring.