Officer Roadside Safety: Automation & eCitation

There is no doubt that law enforcement is a dangerous profession. Just since the beginning of 2015, there have been 14 LODDs (line-of-duty-deaths) in the United States, and prior to that there were 121 LODDs in 2014.¹ While many of these LODDs involved gunfire, it is certainly noteworthy to mention that over four dozen of these LODDs in 2014 were vehicle-related.
What do these sobering statistics mean for the law enforcement community? There is a need to continue the search for new and improved methods of protecting officers, including amplified roadside safety.
According to the National Institute of Justice,² there are several areas in which officer safety can be – and should be – improved. These areas include:
* Body Armor
* Police Roadside Safety
* Equipment Standards and Testing
* Stress and Fatigue
* Use of Force
Reflective markings and clothing, emergency lighting and vehicle positioning all play an important role in police roadside safety, but unfortunately the dangers are still present, even with these precautions in place. The fact remains that when an officer is pulled over at a traffic stop, he/she is in harm’s way. Automated technology solutions, such as an electronic citation (eCitation), area imaging scanners, and in-vehicle printers, are becoming more and more critical within the law enforcement world for just that reason. Automated solutions decrease the time officers need to spend at traffic stops. eCitation, also referred to as e-ticketing, is designed specifically for law enforcement applications and has numerous benefits.
 
Some facts about the benefits of eCitation:
* Paperless internal reports & improved records accuracy
* Fewer dismissed or reduced violations due to manual error
* Less time on paperwork = more time improving public safety
* eCitations take only ¼ of the time it takes to manually process a citation
* Situational awareness & officer roadside safety at traffic stops is amplified!
 
Simply put, the less time an officer spends at a traffic stop, the less time an officer is at risk on the side of the road. While pen and paper can be a great backup plan, have you considered automation?