eCite
About
Cite is an Electronic Citation Generation and Processing System.
It was developed as a process-level solution to the outdated and time-consuming paper citation form used by law enforcement and the court system. Citations generated through eCite are quick, accurate, secure, and legible.
eCite is more than a form. The vision for eCite was born out of the needs of the court system for timely and secure access to accurate citation data, but citation data was originated by law enforcement. Therefore, CAPS developed the eCite system as a means of collecting, cleaning, and analyzing data and making that data easily accessible by all agencies involved.
The eCite system is fully integrated into the Mobile Officers’ Virtual Environment (MOVE) and is not offered as a stand-alone product.
Process
eCite enables the entire citation process, from citation issuance to transferring citation data to the district court system, to be completed 100 percent electronically. NO hand-entered data!
The multiple users, interfaces, equipment, and state legislation involved this process solution illustrates CAPS’ integrated systems approach to software design and problem-solving.
eCite is utilized by officers in the field to issue tickets, print a copy for the violator, and transmit the data to a server repository using a laptop, notebook, or tablet PC.
eCite improves an officer’s safety and efficiency by enabling faster citation issuance, reducing exposure to a potentially dangerous defendant, and the ability to validate a defendant’s identity and view their previous records. Redundant paperwork is eliminated through an integrated activity logbook. These factors allow officers to spend a greater percentage of their shift in patrol and results in increased job satisfaction.
Law enforcement and court system personnel access officers submit data through CAPS developed administrative portals, eSwear, eSearch, and Advance.
The suite of administrative tools supports the electronic filing of citations with the court system, as well as the backend processing and archiving of the citation data.
- eSwear is a virtual swearing process that allows the officer to swear to the authenticity of the ticket and the clerk to confirm via a touch-screen kiosk equipped with biometric-based authentication.
- eSearch enables clerks and law enforcement administrators to search, access, and evaluate existing citations. Citations can be printed from this site as needed.
- ADVANCE is a web portal dashboard enabling users to analyze and visualize data.
CAPS provides free, secure web services for law enforcement and court personnel to pull data collected in eCite into their records management systems (RMS) and court case management systems (CMS) respectively.
Overview Video
Features & MOVE Integration
- Auto-populates citation data from driver’s license barcode and magnetic stripe scanning (MOVE integration)
- Auto-populates driver’s license information (implemented by LETS-GO)
- Auto-populates certain form fields with setting defaults (e.g., county, court, etc.)
- Auto-populates driver and/or vehicle data from third-party applications (ASPEN*, etc.)
- Auto-populates location data from GPS device
- Interfaces with web pages and other applications through MOVE
- Automated data validation (checks for consistency and completeness)
- Citation replication (simplifies & speeds the writing of multiple offenses)
- Defines screen templates for customized preset values
- Automated, internet-based upload of ticket data to central data repository
- Automated, internet-based download of ticket numbers from a central repository
- Writes and tracks warning citations
- Transfers data from eCite into officer’s daily activity log through MOVE
* ASPEN is a FMCSA software for federal electronic reporting of commercial vehicle violations
Learn more about MOVE
Electronic Solution
- Issuance: via the eCite software on laptops in the officer’s vehicles
- eTransmittal: once Internet connectivity is established via cellular air cards or hot spots
- eSwear: via a computer kiosk at the clerk’s office
- eFiling: via the integrated network – no mailing of hard copies
- ePayments: via credit card over the internet
- eSearch and statistical analyses: via secure password-protected web portal
History, Sponsors, & Partners
eCite was initially developed with the support and guidance of the Alabama Administrative Office of Courts (AOC). Financial support was provided by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA). eCite was developed in cooperation with the Alabama Department of Public Safety (DPS) who provided invaluable feedback.
eCite was the first system within Alabama to utilize license scanners, GPS devices, and laptops to aid officers in the traffic citation writing process.
- 2002: eCite software development began
- 2003: Phase 1, eCite ticketing process pilot, executed at a fixed-base location truck weigh station in Heflin, Alabama.
- 2003: Phase 2, eCite mobile connectivity pilot, tested viability of cellular air cards for laptop Internet connectivity.
- 2003: Statewide eCite rollout to all motor carrier (MCSAP) state troopers.
- 2005: First municipal pilot was with the Tuscaloosa Police Department.
- 2007: 100% eCite adoption by Alabama state troopers. Alabama municipal rollout began.
- 2009: eCite pilot project in Roswell, New Mexico.
- 2010: eCite deployed for Mississippi Highway Patrol’s State Troopers.
- 2013: eCite deployed for Arkansas law enforcement personnel.
Today, eCite has been deployed in 300 municipalities and 4 states. Most Alabama state agencies use eCite and its user base continues to expand. Eighty percent of citations in Alabama are produced using eCite.
The eCite system is a client-based application, but it uses the Internet to transmit the tickets. If there is no connectivity, the tickets are stored to be transmitted later. This approach led to a successful pilot, which was followed shortly by a statewide rollout to all motor carrier (MCSAP) state troopers. The product was so popular and successful that the project has expanded to general vehicle enforcement troopers.
Customized for Other Jurisdicitons
Our developers can customize eCite for specific jurisdictions. eCite’s customization options, such as non-uniform traffic citations, commercial vehicle weight form for overweight citations, and record management systems integration, making it highly flexible for adaption to any jurisdiction, municipality, or state.
eCite’s successful Alabama deployment led to its customization and adoption by three other states: New Mexico, Mississippi, and Arkansas.
New Mexico
After eCite’s Alabama state-wide rollout in 2007, New Mexico became the second state to implement eCite. CAPS began a pilot eCite project in Roswell, NM, in 2009. The New Mexico Administrative Office of the Courts then contracted CAPS to develop a system that would aggregate electronic citation data from multiple vendors, including TraCS, and make the data available within the Court’s Case Management System (CMS).* This system of aggregating, cleaning, and integrating data eliminated repetitive data entry by the courts.
*New Mexico utilizes Odyssey Court Management System by Tyler Technologies which integrates with eCite.
Mississippi
Mississippi Highway Patrol (MHP) sponsored CAPS to customize and deploy eCite to all MHP Troopers and production use began in October 2010.
Tailoring eCite for Mississippi included:
- Implementing a secure download of issued citations to the appropriate Justice Court jurisdictions
- Providing administrative forms and procedures
- Building a password-protected, administrative website for MHP supervisors
- Developing a password-protected, analytical dashboard. The dashboard has drill-down capabilities for all data element(s) contained in eCite and GPS mapping based on citation issuance.
After the successful deployment of eCite with only the basic traffic citation, MHP commissioned CAPS to add DUI citations. Now all citations, including DUI, are transferred to the courts electronically.
Currently, there are approximately 600 officers using the system. MHP has begun deploying eCite to local agencies. In Mississippi, there have been over 1.6 million citations issued with the eCite system and over 93 percent of all citations have been transferred to the courts electronically.
Arkansas
Arkansas State Police (ASP) contracted CAPS to develop a customized eCite solution for all Arkansas law enforcement personnel and the deployment process began in early 2013.
Tailoring eCite for Arkansas included:
- Customizing forms for citations and administrative products
- Connecting to the Arkansas State NCIC Switch in real-time for onboard data retrieval
- Developing Arkansas Threat Level Assessment System (ATLAS)
Atlas is a UI Rich NCIC application that allows officers to conduct NLETS searches through the state’s message switch and to auto-populate eCite with the resulting data. ATLAS is used by all ASP Highway Patrol and over 10 million queries have been performed using the application.
eCite is used by Arkansas State Police’s entire highway patrol unit and ASP is working with local agencies to deploy eCite to all municipalities. Since its implementation in 2013, 1.8 million eCite documents have been submitted.
Implementation Benefits
eCite revolutionized the citation process for Alabama law enforcement and court system personnel by improving accuracy, efficiency, and safety. While eCite fulfilled all its project goals, it’s highway safety benefits and research implications are deeply rooted in CAPS’ mission for its software research and development to make the world a safer and better place.
Law Enforcement Personnel
- Reduced exposure to potentially dangerous defendants due to faster citation issuance
- Increased situational awareness via GPS and LETS integration (LETS provides individual, vehicle, and violation data to law enforcement and criminal justice agencies.)
- Reduced amount of redundant paperwork due to integrated activity logbook
- Increased job satisfaction due to less citation generation effort
Court System Personnel
- Increased citation legibility due to electronic data entry
- Improved access due to immediate addition of citation to electronic database/court jurisdictions
- Increased citation completion due to essential form field checks
- Increased accuracy due to in-field consistency checks
- Increased revenue due to the speedy issuance of single or multiple citations
- Increased efficiency of court clerks due to elimination of data re-entry processes
- Elimination of backlogged tickets
Highway Safety
- Thorough enforcement due to streamlined citation process and informative citation analytics
- Increased officer patrol time due to efficient citation process
- Increased meaning for warning tickets due to reviewability in database
- Identification of serial citation recipients due to immediate availability of electronic citations
Research
- Optimized enforcement efforts due to citation data analytics
- Access to defendant demographic data (e.g., background information, types of citations issued, etc.)
- Access to citation location data due to GPS integration
I Want eCite
Alabama Agencies
eCite is free of charge to Alabama law enforcement agencies.
New users must complete initial forms that include providing the municipal court information and municipal adopting codes. This information is necessary to customize the software before you can begin using it. User accounts will be set up for agency officers.
eCite technical support desk:
205-348-9672 | alea-caps.support@ua.edu
Training manuals are available upon request: email care@cs.ua.edu
Inquiries
eCite can be adapted for any state or municipality. If you are interested in implementing eCite, another CAPS product, or working with CAPS on a custom solution, we want to hear from you!
Rhonda Stricklin | rhonda.stricklin@ua.edu | 1-866-349-CARE
Training Manuals
Available upon request to eCite users. To request a manual, please email care@cs.ua.edu.