Sheriff hoping to improve efficiency with police cruiser computers

Whitley County Sheriff’s deputies will soon be able to complete accident reports from computer terminals inside their police cruisers while they are still at accident scenes.

This is thanks in part to some “new to them” free computer equipment that the sheriff’s department has received courtesy of the Kentucky State Police.

The sheriff’s department recently received 12 refurbished mobile data terminals (MDTs) for free. If the machines were purchased new, each would have cost over $1,400 each. The refurbished machines alone normally run about $600 each.

Sheriff Bill Elliotte said that installing MDTs in police cruisers will reduce the amount of time it takes deputies to complete accident reports and do other paperwork.

Currently, if an officer has to investigate a traffic collision, the officer hand writes his notes then must go back to the office to type the report, which is a time consuming process.

“We will be able to get our collision reports done and issue tickets once we get them in the cars,” Elliotte said.

“One of the many goals I had when elected sheriff was to modernize the sheriff’s department. MDT computers for our patrol cars is something that’s almost a necessity in today’s world,” Elliotte said adding that the cost without the KSP donation would have been tremendous.

Elliotte made the request to state police during his first month in office, and was advised shortly thereafter that the commissioner had approved the request.

“We still have to buy mounts and printers for our cars before we are operational and that will cost us between $650 – $700 per car but at least we are one step closer. I want to thank the Kentucky State Police and Commissioner PJ Burnett for donating this much needed equipment to our department,” Elliotte added.

Elliotte noted that the state is also trying to do away with handwritten tickets too, such as speeding tickets and arrest citations.

“After they do a handwritten ticket, then they have to come back and do another ticket on the computer and transmit it to the records section in Frankfort,” Elliotte said. “The MDTs will save us a lot of time in terms of units not having to come back to the office and do their reports. Plus it will keep deputies out in the communities. Frankfort for years has wanted everybody using computers, but for years it has not been cost effective for small departments to do so.”

Elliotte said that even though the computers his department has gotten have been refurbished, they are still somewhat older machines.

He said that a goal of his department will be to buy a handful of new MDTs each year in order to keep the department’s technology current.

Elliotte added that later his officers will be able to type a vehicle’s license plate number into the computer from inside their vehicle and see whether the registration is current, whether it has been reported stolen, and various other information that they currently can only get from dispatchers now.

While officers will be able to write accident reports inside their police cruisers from crash scenes, involved parties won’t be able to get copies of those reports at accident scenes as the reports must be reviewed first by a supervisor.