The Electronic Traffic Information Exchange (E-TIX) began as an idea in the Maryland State Police Office of Technology Management (then the Information Technology Division) in 2006.  The idea of E-TIX became a reality due to the efforts of Corporal Christopher Corea, the primary developer.  Each member of OTM has participated in the development or deployment of E-TIX to some extent and this project has truly been a team effort.

E-TIX is now a fully functional electronic traffic enforcement system with a large portion of Maryland Law Enforcement Agencies using the system.  Grants awarded by the Governor's Office of Crime Control and Prevention (GOCCP: http://www.goccp.org) will allow the Maryland State Police to deploy E-TIX to troopers statewide by the end of 2008 and will also allow us to support those allied agencies that have chosen to partner with us.

Preliminary Work & Pilot Program

Once a working version of E-TIX was developed, Troopers from OTM began field testing the program in late 2006.  At the same time, we began working closely with the District Court of Maryland.  Our common goal was to develop and pass legislation that would allow us to issue electronic traffic citations in the State of Maryland .  In addition, we were seeking to remove the statutory requirement that the violator sign the traffic citation.  We had a common interest since MSP accounts for approximately one-third of the 1.5 million citations issued in Maryland each year.  E-TIX will allow our troopers to work more safely and efficiently and by transferring that data to the District Court electronically, the personnel assigned to the Traffic Processing Center will be able to work more efficiently also.

Over the course of several months, we met with many groups including the Motor Vehicle Administration, the State Highway Administration, numerous other state agencies, states attorneys, public defenders, judges, police chiefs and sheriffs.  Troopers personally appeared before both the House and Senate Judiciary Committees to present E-TIX and field questions from the legislators.  After dozens of meetings and many revisions, our legislation passed both the House and the Senate unanimously.  The legislation was signed by Governor O’Malley on May 17, 2007 and went into effect on August 1, 2007.

After working out the initial “bugs,” a grant-funded pilot program began on August 1, 2007.  The pilot program initially consisted of 15 Troopers from the Field Operations Bureau (at Bel Air, Westminster and Golden Ring Barracks).  Those troopers entered all warning and citation data into the system, but they only issued electronic warnings.  Citations were still issued on paper.  The initial phase of the pilot program ran for three months and was very successful.  In November 2007, an additional 40 units were placed in service for phase two.  At that time the pilot program was also expanded to include the Easton and College Park Barracks.

During the pilot program MSP continued to work with the District Court of Maryland to validate the process of transferring data from our server in Pikesville to their server in Annapolis .  During the pilot program, the data from over 15,000 traffic violations were entered into the system and transferred to the District Court.

Certification

On March 19, 2008 the Maryland State Police E-TIX system was granted full certification by the Chief Judge Ben Clyburn of the District Court of Maryland.  This certification allows us to issue electronic citations and submit the data, not paper, to the District Court.  Since certification was received, members of OTM have worked to train troopers and allied agencies to issue citations and have installed the certified version of the software in the patrol vehicles.  As part of our internal certification process, we require that all tofficers stop 50 vehicles prior to allowing them to issue electronic citations.  We believe that this will improve the quality of the citation data that we submit to the District Court.

Current Progress

E-TIX has grown to over 70 agencies in Maryland.  The system has surpassed 1 million traffic stops and 2 million charges entered into the system.  The time and personnel savings have been seen in all the agencies using the system.  The District COurt has also seen subastantial savings receiving the data electronically.