AURORA — The latest addition to the Aurora Police Department’s growing inventory of technology tools is an electronic ticketing system that will begin to be used by the department’s motorcycle enforcement team this fall.

Electronic citation devices are handheld scanners that allow officers to swipe a citizen’s driver’s license and automatically upload their information onto a ticket and, in some cases, immediately assign a court date for the offense. The system communicates with a wireless printer that is on each of the 11 motorcycles in the department’s fleet so that hardcopy tickets can still be handed over.

“We’re expecting that it will reduce the amount of mistakes that are made and really streamline the citation process,” said Lt. Dan Mark, head of the Aurora Police Department’s electronic support section. “Right now, an officer turns in paper citations at the end of the shift and someone in court administration has to physically type all that information into their system. Now, it will just electronically transfer.”

Mark said the program is being tested first on motorcycle officers because they have the most interaction with citizens. If the technology is as efficient as it seems, the department will work to get an electronic citation device to all traffic officers and eventually all patrol units.

The motorcycle unit tested body-worn cameras about two years ago before that technology was expanded to all traffic enforcement officers. What started as 11 inconspicuously placed video cameras on the uniforms of each motorcycle officer is now a program of 50 cameras that is continuously expanding.

“The plan is to put body-worn cameras on patrol officers in every district next year,” Mark said. “So far, there are three or four of those on patrol officers in every district.”

He said the expansion of that program was part of the department’s budget, unlike the electronic citation devices, which were paid for with grant money from the Colorado Department of Transportation. CDOT awarded the Aurora Police Department the full cost of 11 electronic citation systems — $64,366.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration gives grant money every year, which CDOT doles out to community-based organizations that use the money specifically to reduce injuries on the state’s roadways, said Emily Wilfong, spokesperson with CDOT.

“CODT wants to help … law enforcement do their jobs efficiently, and traffic (technology) is part of overall road safety,” she said.

Grant monies have been used for other police technology programs, including part of the 11 high-tech monitor cameras installed along a stretch of East Colfax Avenue earlier this year. The department connects the cameras, along with license-plate readers, to a live feed at the Aurora Municipal Center.

“The whole goal of these programs is to make things more efficient in the police department and for the courts system,” Mark said. “We’re constantly looking for ways to (modernize) our field tools.”

Megan Mitchell: 303-954-2650, or mmitchell@denverpost.com