Madison County Sheriff’s Department to receive high-tech car gear

By Chris Coates

Some Madison County Sheriff’s Department cruisers will have a new system that allows deputies to compile crash reports faster.

The Illinois Department of Transportation provided the county with $31,600 for in-car technology that will let deputies send in traffic reports from the field, said Sheriff’s Department Capt. Eric Decker.

Deputies currently have to take notes about traffic crashes, then enter the information in reports, which are copied and sent to IDOT, Decker said.”It’s all by hand now,” he said.

The new system will fit with existing computers in most police cruisers, with the reports sent through electronically, he said.

“The manual stuff is all eliminated,” Decker said.

The County Board approved the grants, along with a new cruiser, earlier this month.

The state Emergency Management Agency also coordinated $153,000 in federal funding for a new wireless surveillance system that deputies will use to monitor county sites at risk of terrorist acts, Decker said.

The department has a $11.4 million annual budget, county records show