Campbell cops' new devices speed ticketing

CAMPBELL

Receiving a traffic ticket is never an enjoyable experience, but the Campbell Police Department hopes its newest equipment will help expedite the process and, ultimately, offer better service to the public.

Electronic-ticketing systems have been installed in all eight of the city’s police cruisers thanks to a pilot program from the Ohio Department of Public Transportation.

The Campbell department is one of the only departments in Mahoning County using the system. The Ohio State Highway Patrol has been using the system since 2015.

Police Chief Dennis Puskarcik said the new system ultimately would save the department money and would help prevent mistakes and discrepancies on the tickets.

“It’s an investment initially, but rather than buying ticket books in bulk, we’ll be printing only the tickets that we need,” Puskarcik said. “We’ll save money in the long run.”

Rather than issuing citations from books of paper tickets, police now will scan motorists’ driver’s licenses and fill out the reason for the ticket. That information is then sent to be stored on a server at the city’s administration building.

Much of the information officers previously had to fill out by hand – such as the date, time, etc. – will be done automatically by the computer.

Once the information is filled out in full, the officer can then print a citation from an in-vehicle printer to give to the driver.

Read more about the new devices in Friday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.