Speedy Tickets | Video

| 10/4/2011

Police in some parts of the Chicago area are issuing traffic tickets in a new way.

The Cook County Clerk`s Office began testing the "Quick Ticket" system as a pilot program in four municipalities Monday.

The new electronic tickets are meant to expedite routine traffic stops and cut costs by more than $190,000 as the handling and processing of traffic citations will be entirely electronic.

As part of the new eTickets system, officers will input offender information into a squad car computer that sends the ticket directly to the Cook County Court`s main server as well as local, state and national databases.

Meanwhile, a printer in the squad car will produce a slip for the motorist, relieving the officer of actually writing out the ticket.

"It`s going to help police officers not have to be at a traffic stop for a long time," Clerk of the Circuit Court Dorothy Brown said Monday at a live demonstration of the new technology. "It`s going to cut down on traffic stops from about 12 minutes to 3 minutes, increase public safety and reduce redundant data entry."

Brown said the County Clerk`s Office plans to expand the program to 16 additional agencies by the end of 2011.

"This system will effectively automate the creation, capture, transmission, and storage of a traffic-stop citation, from the squad car directly to the Clerk of the Circuit Court," said county officials in a statement.

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