Monticello police have used a $20,000 grant from the state Division of Criminal Justice Services to install five new Fujitsu mobile computers in patrol cars.

The computers are equipped with the latest version of Traffic and Criminal Software to allow the officers to quickly process traffic tickets by scanning in the information rather than hand-writing it. The setup includes in-car scanners and printers.

The new TRACS equipment will make the entire ticket process much faster, and tickets and accident reports will automatically be sent electronically to the village court.

The TRACS software has also been linked with the village police’s Impact software, which allows the officers to run vehicle, driver and warrant data from their cars through the state’s police information network. This allows officers to generate blotter entries from their cars and get mug shots and suspect information via the computers.

The addition of the software and the updated computers put Monticello police “in the forefront of today’s law enforcement technology,” said Sgt. Mark Johnstone.

(Source: Times Herald Record)