A quick look away is all it takes for danger to strike.

Every Lawrence police officer is reminded of that each time they walk up to a vehicle they’ve pulled over. You never know who may have a gun or just a chip on their shoulder that’s going to cause problems.

So officers have developed all types of tricks of the trade to make sure they always keep an eye on the people they’re dealing with. For example, they learn to write while keeping their ticket book up close to eye level instead of holding it down near their waist, and they don’t write more than a line or two at a time without stopping and reassessing the scene.

“You know, 99.9 percent of the time, it is going to be a general citizen who is in the vehicle, and they won’t cause you any problems,” said Sgt. Dan Ward, a Lawrence Police Department spokesman. “But you can’t take the risk of not coming home to your family.”

But still, the process is kind of a pain. Soon, though, technology may be able to help. Lawrence police officers are beginning to test a new ticket writing technology that utilizes bar code scanners and portable printers.

Technology continues to improve the work flow and documentation for the Lawrence Police Department. Officer Jim Welsh's patrol car is equipped with some of the latest high-tech gear including a portable scanner and printer, at bottom, that will enable an officer to scan a driver's license and print out the ticket. The new device should expedite the ticket-writing process, taking it from about four minutes for a hand-written ticket to about one minute for an electronically processed one.

The system, which is currently in one patrol car and should be in about a half-dozen more within a month, allows an officer to scan the magnetic strip on the back of a driver license. That one simple scan – just like you do with a debit card – places all the information from the license into an electronic document.

All that leaves the officer to do is punch a couple of buttons on a computer screen to enter the type of offense and some other basic information. When completed, a portable printer produces a paper copy of the ticket, which looks a bit like a grocery receipt – except it doesn’t have a coupon on the back.

The whole process takes about one minute compared to about four minutes for the traditional way. And more important, Ward said, the new system allows officers to more easily keep an eye on motorists and their passengers.

“It is a more eyes-forward process,” Ward said.

There are other reasons the city is hoping to implement the system. Leaders at the city’s Municipal Court made the strongest push for the new technology and are using their budget to pay for the approximately $100,000 cost.

The system automatically enters each traffic ticket into the court’s computer system. Currently, the court has one full-time employee who does nothing but enter traffic tickets into the computer.

In addition to being time-consuming, that can be a bit challenging. After all, police officers are required to take all types of exams, but penmanship isn’t one of them.

“On a KU game day where we might have several parking tickets to issue in one area, your hand gets pretty tired and your handwriting might get a little sloppy,” Officer Jim Welsh said.

Vicki Stanwix, manager of the Municipal Court, can attest to that.

“Sometimes we’ll take a ticket all the way around the office and ask, ‘What do you think this street is?’,” Stanwix said. “And four or five people will all tell us something different.”

She said with the new system her staff will have more time to go through the files of unpaid parking tickets and other unpaid fines and begin sending out letters seeking payments.

“We’re excited about the system because we spend tons of time working on speeding tickets,” Stanwix said.

Plans call for the Police Department’s entire fleet of 29 patrol vehicles to eventually be equipped with the new technology. The department also has four hand-held devices that can be used by officers on motorcycles or bicycles.