Paying for traffic tickets in Jersey City may become speedier

Published: Monday, July 25, 2011, 3:00 AM
By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal

Jersey City may implement a program that will allow residents to pay for traffic summonses in a speedier fashion.

The city operates now with what Police Chief Tom Comey called a ?historically ancient system? that requires officials to enter tickets manually into a computer system before anybody can pay the tickets.

This sometimes creates a 14-day lag, Comey said.

The new system would send summons information to the state, to municipal court and to the applicable city departments instantaneously. Residents who receive a summons would be able to pay it almost immediately.

The updated system would also allow police to gain intelligence quicker during investigations, according to the chief.

?It just makes us more efficient,? he said to the council during Monday?s caucus.

The cost of the new system, which amounts to roughly $1 per ticket but slides down as more summonses are issued, would be paid for by the vendor and through court fees, according to Comey.