By Jason Lowrey
The Daily Tribune News
ADAIRSVILLE, Ga. — The Adairsville Police Department is set to become more efficient and potentially more effective after receiving approval to purchase mobile data terminals for its patrol vehicles. The terminals are an array of laptops and associated equipment that, once installed in the vehicles, will allow officers to spend more time in the field.
As approved by the Adairsville City Council during its Thursday night meeting, the purchase may not exceed $18,000, which will come from the department’s confiscated drug funds.
Adairsville Police Chief Robert Jones said the terminals will allow an officer to complete incident and traffic reports on scene, and supervisors will be able to review and approve those reports in the field. Before acquiring this system, officers had to drive back to the station to handle reports. By allowing officers to do everything in the field, Jones added, the department will see a savings in time, gasoline and vehicle maintenance.
“Also, they’ll be able to ticket from the computer rather than giving a handwritten citation. They can either decide to do a citation or a warning from the system. It’ll spit it out. It’s as basically no cost to the taxpayer, the tax base. It’s paid on a per citation [basis] with no maximum or minimum,” Jones said.
Each citation an officer gives will have an additional $20 added on to the ticket, which pays for maintenance and updates. The software company does not set a quota of citations that must be processed in a given month, so there is no pressure on officers to write a large number of citations.
“That accounts for our maintenance, our updates, everything will come through that way. It alleviates some of the taxpayers’ burden for paying for that stuff,” Jones said. “… So everything can be done in the car while they’re out in the field, which will keep us more visible and hopefully deter crime.”
The council also approved an amendment to the city’s taxation ordinance, which moved the delinquency date for the occupational tax from March 1 to Jan. 31. City Manager Pat Crook said it was a case of ensuring that licenses were purchased in a timely manner.
“It seemed that everyone was waiting and putting it so far out into the year when, technically, their license expired on Dec. 31 and here it is you get into March and they don’t have a license yet,” she said.
Other city council business included:
• Approving certain city equipment, confiscated guns and vehicles surplus and allowing Adairsville police to hold an auction at a later date.
• Approving job descriptions for water system manager and treatment plant operator.
• Approving the renewal of group medical insurance with Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Georgia in the sum of approximately $300,000.
• Authorizing a Section 457 Deferred Compensation Plan for city employees.
• Approving a resolution re-stating and clarifying terms of office of Adairsville Development Authority members.
The Adairsville City Council’s next meeting is scheduled to be held Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. at city hall to discuss licensing issues.
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