Alexandria puts speeding tickets on the fast track
By Shelly Whitehead
Post staff reporter

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Good news! Your next speeding ticket will be processed much faster - at least, if you get it in Alexandria.

Police there began using E-citations this week. Now, instead of scrawling out the details of traffic infractions and offending drivers, Alexandria officers have new equipment in their cruisers that streamlines the whole ugly process.

With the new technology, soon to be installed in all 10 of the city's marked police cruisers, officers just electronically scan the offending driver's license to automatically generate a neatly typed, computer-generated personalized traffic citation.

And there's more. With E-citation, the offender's information is electronically transmitted directly to the Administrative Office of the Courts in Frankfort. That allows the traffic ticket you get today to land in front of the Campbell County District Court Clerk no later than first thing tomorrow. In far less time, you can pay that fine or get your court date.

For now, the Alexandria Police Department is the only Northern Kentucky agency to have installed E-citation software, which is provided at no cost by the Kentucky Justice Cabinet to all law enforcement agencies who desire it. Some Kentucky State Police cruisers around the state are also using the technology and the hope is that it will gradually be adopted by all Kentucky law enforcement.

Alexandria Police Chief Mike Ward said he jumped at the opportunity to use E-citation when it was offered last November. Ward said, since the system eliminates handwritten citations, it ensures all traffic ticket information is legible.

He expects savings from the money and manpower his department spent regularly delivering handwritten citations to the Campbell County District Court Clerk in Newport. "To me it's a no-brainer," Ward said. "It's simple and you can read it and ... I love the accountability on it. And you don't have to drive all the way to the courthouse - which for us is about 15 miles one way - to hand deliver citations."

Ward said the only cost his department incurred was for printers used with the system in officers' cruisers. E-citation uses the Kentucky Open Portal Solution, administered by the Kentucky State Police, the agency which tracks accident data for the commonwealth.