Albany Police Department patrol cars get new E-Ciation equipment

ALBANY — The Albany Police Department is upgrading its patrol cars with new E-Citation equipment. The equipment includes a card reader/scanner similar to a credit reader and a thermal printer. More 135 patrol cars will be receiving the upgrade, including vehicles used by the uniform, traffic and gang unit divisions.

APD Lt. William Dowdell demonstrated the new system Monday at the Albany Law Enforcement Center.

Dowdell, who has been with the Albany Police Department for more than 19 years, said, “The new E-Citation system will cut down on errors by officers not having to input information manually.”

During a traffic stop or arrest situation, the driver or suspect’s license will be swiped through the card reader much like swiping a credit card. The information stored there will then be automatically uploaded into the vehicle’s computer.

“A six-minute traffic stop will be cut down to three or four minutes,” said Dowdell.

The only information that officers will have to manually input will be the charges and court date, after which two copies of the ticket will be generated on a small thermal printer.

Lt. Dowdell warned that thermal printing paper is susceptible to heat and sunlight and will turn black. Tickets should not be stored in direct sunlight or near a heat source or they will become illegible, he said.

“Once the info is in our computer, it will be automatically transferred to the court’s computer system and is expected to cut admin costs,” said Dowdell. “Violators will still have to sign the ticket, but this new system should be a big help. Our No. 1 complaint is that people can’t read the handwriting on a ticket.”