Gwinnett Law Enforcement Getting In On The E-Revolution

Gone is the hope that a ticket won’t hit your record for a few weeks – that is if you get it in Gwinnett County. Now it is likely to just take an e-second.

Gwinnett County officials announced Thursday that new technology coming soon to Gwinnett County’s public safety vehicles will enable police officers, code enforcement, animal control and fire marshals to issue electronic tickets to offenders and upload their citations to central servers over a cellular modem.

When an officer enters a Georgia driver’s license number into a handheld computer, the device will fill in information about the drivers involved in an incident. According to officials, this will eliminate time-consuming copying and ensuring accuracy and legibility - the officer will be able to print copies on the spot.

Commissioners approved a $1.02 million contract on Tuesday to buy the new equipment from Thinkstream, Inc. of Baton Rouge, LA, the highest-scoring of seven bidders. The money will come from public safety funds in the 2009 Special Local Option Sales Tax Program.

“This will allow our officers to operate more efficiently, giving them more availability and less time doing paperwork,” said Gwinnett Police Chief Charlie Walters, adding the new technology is an efficiency improvement recommended by the Engage Gwinnett citizens study committe