Law Enforcement Agencies Receive Funding for Contact-Free Ticket Writing Systems

Several local law enforcement agencies applied for funding for new citation-writing technology that is designed to protect law enforcement officers and the public from contact during traffic stops. The funds were received under the CARES Act, and as such, the primary purpose of the new systems is to prevent the spread of COVID-19. 

Howell County News spoke to both the Mountain View and Willow Springs Police Departments about their award, but the Howell County Sheriff’s Department and West Plains Police Department will receive funding for the same inter-communicating system. 

In Mountain View, the new system will be installed in each of their six patrol cars at a cost of more than $72,000. In Willow Springs, eight police vehicles will be outfitted with the Omni Go reporting system at the cost of $95,534. 

The reporting system uses a tablet computer officers can use to scan drivers’ license through the window of a vehicle. The system will run the driver’s information through the MULES system and print the ticket in the patrol car with no signature required, effectively preventing the hand-to-hand transfer of items back and forth between the officers and the public, said Chief Jaime Perkins of the MVPD. 

In addition to the protection from germs, Chief Perkins looks forward to the system because he expects it to cut down the time required for officers to perform a traffic stop. 

“Handwritten tickets have to be written out by hand,” he said, “[The new system] may cut the time in half.”

In Willow Springs, Chief Bryan Hogan is looking forward to the new technology for the same reasons as well as for its communications capacity to other agencies. 

The funding will provide the systems for each department in their entirety, including the tablets, mounting systems, cradle points to provide internet access, and in-car ticket printers.