WO2002031729A1

WO2002031729A1 - Method and apparatus for the electronic issuance, processing, and payment of traffic and parking tickets

Info

Publication number: WO2002031729A1
Application number: PCT/US2001/030946
Authority: WO
Inventors: Thomas J. Calva
Original assignee: Calva Thomas J
Priority date: 2000-10-10
Filing date: 2001-10-03
Publication date: 2002-04-18
Also published as: AU2001296540A1

Abstract

A method for the electronic issuance, processing and payment of traffic tickets using a hand-held ticketing unit (1A).

Description

TITLE OF INVENTION

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR THE ELECTRONIC ISSUANCE,

PROCESSING, AND PAYMENT OF TRAFFIC AND PARKING TICKETS

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to processing of traffic and parking tickets, and more particularly to a method and system of electronically issuing and paying traffic and parking tickets.

In the prior art, law enforcement officials such as police officers, sheriffs, and highway patrol personnel, have been issuing traffic tickets and parking tickets to individual motorists who are found in violation of the Nehicle Code through the use of a paper system. Specifically, the law enforcement officer will issue the ticket indicating the nature of the violation on the ticket itself. Once the ticket is issued, it falls into the hands of local, city and/or county jurisdictions for processing of payments and fines. Generally, local municipalities initially process the ticket. Next, it is forwarded to the local courts traffic division for additional processing.

At the time the ticket is issued, the officer specifies an exact date, time, and location that the defendant must appear in court. In addition, the officer will provide the details of the infraction of the vehicle code. The violator has the right to either pay the fine prior to the court date by going to the local traffic court, or he or she may wait to receive a Bail Notice in the mail and pay the traffic or parking ticket via the mail.

Alternatively, the violator has the right to appear in court to plead not guilty, post bail, and set a hearing date on the matter. The violator also has the right to plead no contest or to plead guilty with an explanation. Further, certain courts will allow installment payments on fines over time, if the defendant shows a financial hardship. If the defendant pleads not guilty, a trial date will be set and the ticketing officer will be notified. The case will then be heard before the court on the trial date. If the violator is found guilty, he or she is required to pay a fine and penalty assessment or, in some cases, is remanded to custody for a specific jail term based on the violation. After a violation has been adjudicated, the record of the particular violation is kept at the local court house.

Furthermore, a record of the violation is forwarded to the department of motor vehicles, which monitors driving activities of the public. Furthermore, the revenue portion of the fine must be processed and allocated to local courts, local cities, counties, and state agencies. The clerical costs and court costs currently paid by local municipalities by handling each ticket manually, one at a time, is in the billions of dollars, annually, nationwide. The cost for clerical and administrative fees and the costs to the courts for judges, overhead, the court clerk and stenographers is astronomical.

The above-mentioned system has operated in much of the same way since its inception. Each ticket issued, depending on the severity of violation, warrants various fine amounts. Often times, the violator has the opportunity to request or attend traffic school in order to expunge the violation from his or her driving record. Currently, the courts operate on one software platform, the police departments operate on still another software platform and the Controller's office, for these municipalities, operate on yet another software platform. The current configuration is riddled with problems, duplication and redundancy. There is currently no accurate accounting, or central database, which these municipalities work from. The present invention addresses deficiencies in the above-mentioned issuance and processing of traffic and parking tickets inasmuch as the present invention provides for an electronic system whereby tickets are issued and fines paid electronically. In this respect, the present invention provides an online system whereby the violator of the vehicle code can conveniently log on to the Internet to pay fines. Additionally, the present invention provides a system whereby record keeping of tickets and payments is centrally located in order to facilitate ease of use. Furthermore, the present invention provides a system which relieves the over-burdened capacities of municipalities in issuing traffic violations and receiving payments of fines.

Handling cases online can save the municipalities millions in administrative costs. For example, if a traffic violator wants to attend traffic school, he or she must appear in court, on the appearance date, wait from 1 to 3 hours for his or her case to be heard to simply ask the judge for traffic school. With the present invention, the majority of uncomplicated cases can be handled online. For example, a traffic ticket can be paid online with a credit card or check debit; an extension (e.g., 30 days) can be requested, online, without driving to the courthouse to request the extension; a violator can plead not guilty, online, post the required bail and set a hearing date for trial; a violator can request traffic school online, and post bail as required and pay the court traffic school fees online; a violator can also plead not guilty, as indicated earlier and instead of appearing in court on a specific date and time, can request online court hearings and trials. This can be accomplished by appearing at a local approved site where a violator can provide testimony, via internet communications links, using digital feed (e.g., from his or her own home). The ticketing officer can also appear, at his local precinct, and the judge can hear the case, at his location, all online. This will save the courts a tremendous amount of time and money as many of these cases can be heard by retired judges, or judge protems, in the evening or during the day, which will eliminate taking time off work by the consumers and using valuable courtroom time to hear traffic cases.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a system and method which will allow law enforcement officers to generate a traffic or parking ticket with an electronic hand-held unit thereby generating both a physical written ticket as well as an electronic record. In accordance with the present invention, a system and method are provided which utilize wireless communications to transport data from the traffic ticket generated through the hand-held unit. The data is transmitted to various databases at a central location for processing. Once processed, the data is accessible to individuals through a dedicated website. The website allows individuals various payment options using their credit card or electronic check as a means of payment.

The hand-held unit used for issuing the traffic or parking ticket provides many features which benefit law enforcement officers in the field. The features include using the magnetic strip on the back of the driver's license for quickly transferring information about the motorist. By simply swiping the drivers license through the hand-held unit, encrypted information on the magnetic strip is transferred into the hand-held unit's database. The information may include the driver's license number, name, address, city and zip code of the driver being ticketed. The information will save law enforcement officers a tremendous amount of time and ensure that the driver ' s information is correctly transferred for the ticket. Additionally, the hand-held unit may include an electronic signature pad such that the signature of the motorist may become a permanent record and is part of the data file which is transferred to the central database for processing. Furthermore, the hand-held unit may feature a mini key pad which allows the officer to input data regarding the violation. Such information may include misdemeanor offense, traffic offense, non-traffic offense, year, date, time, day of week, birthday, gender, hair color, eye color, height, weight, race/ethnicity, vehicle license number, registration expiration date, state of vehicle registration, vehicle type, year of vehicle, make of vehicle, vehicle body style, color, registered owner/lessee, mailing address of owner/lessee, financial responsibility, correctable violation, vehicle code, violation, location of violation, issuing officer and date, as well as date and time of scheduled court appearance by the violator. Additionally, the hand-held unit may feature dedicated function keys which allow the officer to input the most common traffic violations, such as speeding, illegal right or left turn, running a red light, failure to stop or yield at a marked stop sign, etc. The dedicated keys automatically list the vehicle code violation on the ticket upon depression by the officer. Accordingly, the dedicated keys save the officer time in having to locate the vehicle violation code, as is currently practiced.

Another aspect of the hand-held unit allows violators to pay their traffic and/or parking ticket on the spot with a credit card. Accordingly, the hand-held unit may communicate with a base station via a wireless communications network. As such, the hand-held unit can query the credit card provider in order to receive an authorization code for the transaction. Accordingly, the payment of the fine may be approved immediately on the spot by the hand-held unit.

In addition to the foregoing, the hand-held unit may also allow officers to query a driver database via the wireless communication network in order to determine the background of the driver. The hand-held unit will report to the officer whether the individual has a criminal background and/or poses a danger to the officer. The status of the individual may be ranked from 1 to 10 indicating the danger the individual may pose to an officer. For example, the individual may be ranked with a 1 to indicate no trouble and law abiding, or may be ranked with a 10 to indicate that the individual is very dangerous and the officer should proceed with caution. As such, the officer may be given advance warning as to the potential danger that the individual may pose to the officer.

Similarly, the hand-held unit may allow the officer to conduct a warrant check on the individual. The information about the individual will be transmitted via the wireless communications network and received by the hand-held unit and displayed thereon.

Furthermore, the hand-held unit may also include a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver as an optional feature. The officer at all times has the option to activate the GPS on his hand held unit, and should always do so when pulling over drivers for infractions or suspects for questioning, or any other emergency situation. The GPS receiver will continually monitor the location of the hand-held unit and hence the officer's location. Furthermore, the hand-held unit can transmit the location over the wireless communications network such that the officer's command and control center will know the officer's exact location. The hand-held unit may include an emergency distress button which immediately alerts police headquarters that the officer is in trouble. By utilizing the GPS feature, the hand-held unit will transmit the officer's exact location upon depression of the emergency distress button. Accordingly, backup by the officer's headquarters may be sent to the exact location of the officer. The hand-held unit is operative to print a standard size ticket in duplicate, triplicate, or in quadruplicate, depending on the requirements of the city or municipality with the exact same size and information contained in a standard handwritten ticket. As such, the officer, as well as the violator, may get a hard copy of the ticket. The violator may be required to sign using an electronic signature pad of the hand-held unit which stores the signature of the violator electronically, sign the hard copy of the ticket, or sign both the hard copy of the ticket and using the electronic signature pad of the hand-held unit. Once the officer has entered information about the ticket into the hand-held unit, the information may be communicated via the wireless communication network to a central database for immediate posting. After the data from the hand-held unit is moved via the wireless communication network to the central database and website, the violator is now able to access information regarding the ticket and the amount of the fine. Accordingly, the online service will save consumers nationwide millions of wasted hours due to long and complicated court hearings. For example, if a violator currently receives a ticket, it may take approximately 3 weeks to receive notification of the amount of the fine. If the violator is able to conduct all transactions via the website, the consumer will save both time and money in court appearances. Accordingly, the central database will contain numerous sub-databases which contain information regarding violations, driver's records, payment of fines, and other pertinent information.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS These as well as other features of the present invention will become more apparent upon reference to the drawings wherein:

Figure 1 A illustrates a hand-held unit for processing traffic and parking tickets;

Figure IB is a side view of the hand-held unit for processing traffic and parking tickets shown in Figure 1A;

Figure 1C is an internal front view of the hand-held unit for processing traffic and parking tickets shown in Figure 1 A;

Figure 2 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of the present invention; Figure 3 is a block diagram illustrating a revenue management system of the present invention;

Figure 4 is a block diagram illustrating the data storage device shown in Figure 3;

Figure 5 is a block diagram illustrating the flow of data through the central database;

Figures 6-13 are tables showing the exemplary types of data stored by the present invention;

Figures 14-23 are flow charts showing the exemplary logic of the present invention; and Figure 24 illustrates a virtual court of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring now to the drawings where the showings are for purposes of illustrating a preferred embodiment of the present invention only, and not for purposes of limiting the same. Figure 1 perspectively illustrates a hand-held ticketing unit 10 constructed in accordance with the present invention. The ticketing unit 10 is used by officers in the field for issuing tickets to violators of the motor vehicle code. The ticketing unit 10 includes a display device 12 for displaying information and a keypad 14 for entering numerical information. Similarly, a keyboard 16 is provided for entering alphabetic information. Dedicated function keys 18 provide the officer with a method of instantaneously reporting often used violations. In this respect, the function keys 18 are preprogrammed with the violations most often cited such that the officer may simply depress one of the dedicated function keys 18 in order to issue that type of violation.

The ticketing unit 10 further includes a magnetic swipe slot 20 which a credit card or driver's license 22 may be pulled through. A magnetic strip 24 of the credit card or driver's license 22 will be read by the ticketing unit 10 when the credit card or driver's license 22 is swiped through the magnetic swipe slot 20. As will be recognized by those of ordinary skill in the art, the magnetic strip 24 will contain information which the ticketing unit 10 can read and store thereby facilitating transfer of information quickly and accurately.

The ticketing unit 10 further includes a pressure sensitive signature pad 26 upon which a signature may be obtained. The offender will use a stylus to write his or her signature on the signature pad 26 and the signature will then be stored electronically by the ticketing unit 10 for later retrieval. Accordingly, the offender may sign the signature pad 26 as well as signing the paper ticket. It will be appreciated that in alternative embodiments, the offender may sign only the paper ticket or may sign only via the signature pad.

In addition to the foregoing, the ticketing unit 10 will further include a panic key 28 and a location key 30. The panic key 28 is used for informing the officer's headquarters that he or she is in trouble, while the location key 30 is used to determine the location of the ticketing unit 10, as will be further explained below. Referring to Figures 1 A and 1 BJhe ticketing unit 10 further includes ticket forms

32 and a bottom area 34 for storing the ticketing forms. The ticketing unit 10 includes a printer 36 for printing tickets 32, as seen in Figure lC. Accordingly, bottom area 34 contains blank ticket forms which are fed through printer 36 contained within a top area 38 of ticket unit 10. The ticket forms 32 are of the standard size used presently, such that storage of the paper ticket forms 32 is readily accomplished.

Referring to Figure 1C which is an internal view of the ticketing unit 10, the top area 38 of ticketing unit 10 further includes an antenna 40 for transmitting and receiving information via a wireless communications network (e.g., cellular network). Furthermore, the ticketing unit 10 includes a central processing unit (CPU 42) for processing information, as well as memory 44 for electronically storing the information. The hand-held ticketing unit 10 is powered by a rechargeable battery pack 46 for transportability and convenience. Additionally, the ticketing unit 10 may include a GPS receiver 48 for determining the location of the ticketing unit 10.

Referring now to Figure 2, information entered with the ticketing unit 10 is transferred to a central management system 50 either via the wireless communications network or via direct data download when the officer returns to headquarters. Alternatively, information regarding the violation may be entered through local data entry

52 if a ticketing unit 10 is not available. In exemplary embodiments, the central management system 50 is a computer network operative to transfer and store electronic information and is preferably interconnected with the Internet.

The central management system 50 also communicates with a database query engine 54 in order to communicate information to and from the electronic hand-held ticketing unit 10. The database query engine 54 is in communication with external legal database links 56, such as Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and police records in order to transfer information to the electronic hand-held ticketing unit 10.

The central management system 50 communicates with a central traffic ticket database 58 as well as a central parking ticket database 60. In this respect, information through local data entry 52 or electronic hand-held unit 10 is processed by central management system 50, and is reported to traffic ticket database 58 or parking ticket database 60. In order to provide accurate accounting, the central management system 50 communicates with revenue managing and reporting 62. Revenue managing and reporting 62 creates forms and reports and transfers revenue to states, counties, and cities

64 as needed.

Referring now to Figure 3, the central management system 50 may be a computer and/or network of computers. In this respect, the central management system 50 will contain memory 66 for storing electronic information. The memory electronically communicates with a CPU 68 that controls the operations of the central management system 50 according to programs stored on memory 66. The central management system 50 also includes a data storage device 74 for electronically storing information needed by the central management system 50. An exemplary data storage device 74 contains a revenue database 80, a controller database 82, a fine assessment database 84, a payment database 86, and a municipality database 88. Each of the databases 80, 82, 84, 86, and 88 stores relevant information about parking violations, payment of fines, distribution of payments to municipalities, and revenue generated by the system.

Specifically, referring to Figure 4, the revenue database 80 contains sub-databases storing information about traffic ticket revenues, parking ticket revenues and traffic school revenues. The controller database 82 is used to segregate information regarding payment of fines to respective municipalities. Typically, the controller for a municipality is responsible for ensuring that fines have been paid and are disbursed to the correct department. The controller database 82 includes information regarding revenue disbursement and information regarding state, county, and city controllers. Additionally, the controller database will 82 includes information regarding court clerks because fines are often received directly by the court. The fine assessment database 84 contains information regarding traffic and parking fines which have been assessed, as well as traffic school assessments. The payment database 86 includes information regarding the payment of fines to the central management system 50. In this respect, information about credit card payments, electronic check payments, installment payments, direct mail payments, and third party payments is stored in the payment database 86. The municipality database 88 contains information regarding the driving records of offenders. As will be recognized, currently information about the drivers is stored on multiple databases in multiple jurisdictions such that the information is not easily retrievable. However, in accordance with the present invention, the municipality database 88 contains DMV records, highway patrol records, state trooper records, sheriff department records, and city police records.

Accordingly, an officer using the ticketing unit 10 will have quick access to a driver's record in any of the foregoing databases.

Referring to Figure 5, revenue generated through the payment of fines is managed by a revenue management system for centralized processing. In this respect, each of the revenue databases 80, as well as fine assessment database 84, report to revenue management system 90 in order to maintain correct accounting of fines and fees. JO- Figures 6-13 illustrate exemplary types of information stored by each database. For example, the traffic ticket revenue database, shown in Figure 6, stores the amount assessed to each driver from the issuance of traffic tickets. Similarly, as shown in Figure 7 the parking ticket revenue database contains information regarding the amount of fine assessed to drivers. The traffic school revenue database, shown in Figure 8, contains information regarding the amount that a driver must pay for traffic school. The revenue disbursement database shown in Figure 9 contains the amount of revenue that is disbursed to each municipality according to the type of violation (e.g., traffic, parking, or traffic school). Referring to Figure 10, the court clerk database contains information regarding the amount of fines assessed to drivers if they appear in court. Figures 11-13 illustrate the information contained within each of the municipality (e.g., state, county, and city) controller databases in order to determine the amount of fine apportioned to each respective municipality. In this respect, the controller databases are operative to keep an accounting of the fines assessed and the amount to be apportioned to each respective municipality.

Referring now to Figure 14, an exemplary flow chart for traffic ticket reporting is shown. Specifically, upon finding a violation, an officer will enter details of the violation into ticketing unit 10 (step 100). The ticketing unit 10 will transmit details about the violation to the central management system 50 for processing (step 102). The information will be transmitted from the hand-held ticketing unit 10 via the wireless communications network or downloaded upon return by the officer to headquarters. The ticketing unit 10 can also query the central management system to determine whether there are any outstanding warrants existing for the driver (step 104), as well as determine the driver's record in order to calculate the fine for the violation (step 106). Once the calculation of the fine has been made, the officer will display the hand-held ticketing unit

10 and obtain the driver' s signature on the signature pad 26 (step 108). The ticketing unit 10 will then print a hard copy ticket on ticket form 32 for the driver (step 110). If the officer is not equipped with a ticketing unit 10, information regarding the violation may be entered by hand through local data entry 52 (step 112), as previously explained above. Referring to Figure 15, the reporting of parking tickets is similar to traffic ticket reporting inasmuch as at the parking violation site, the officer will enter details of the parking ticket into the ticketing unit 10 (step 120). Information about the parking violation will be transmitted to the central management system 50 via the wireless communications network (step 122). Alternatively, the information may be entered at the local data entry 52 (step 130). The ticketing unit 10 may also query whether there are any outstanding warrants for the vehicle and retrieve the vehicle's parking infraction history (step 124) . As such, the officer may order an impoundment of the vehicle or other appropriate action based upon the parking infraction history of the vehicle(step 126). The ticketing unit 10 will print a hard copy of the traffic ticket which may be left on the vehicle(step 128).

Referring to Figure 16, the violator of a parking or traffic ticket may make payments directly to the officer. Accordingly, the officer will provide the driver with a list showing fine payment options on the ticketing unit 10 (step 140). If the driver decides to make an on-site full or partial payment via a credit card, the officer will swipe the credit card through the swipe slot 20 of the ticketing unit 10 in order to obtain approval for the transaction. Additionally, the driver will also sign the signature pad 26 to verify the charge to his or her credit card (step 140). After the credit card transaction has been approved, the ticketing unit 10 will print the ticket indicating that the fine has been paid in full or that partial payment has been received (step 142). In addition to the forgoing, the violator may also pay by mailing a check along with a copy of the ticket in an envelope provided by the officer at the scene of the violation. Alternatively, as seen in Figure 17, the traffic violator may choose to make a payment at a later date by mailing the payment (step 150).

As previously mentioned, once the ticket has been issued, all information regarding the ticket is transmitted to the central management system 50. The central management system 50 is operative to post the information to a website for retrieval by the motorist. In this respect as illustrated in Figure 18, traffic violators may make a payment for the fine online from any Internet connected workstation or authorized service center (step 160). It will be appreciated that in addition to making payments online, other options associated with the disposition of a ticket can also be performed online. For example, a traffic violator may get an extension of time (e.g., for a court appearance or for payment of the fine), or may sign up for traffic school online. Accordingly, a violator will connect to the central management system website and click the appropriate link, e.g., a "pay traffic ticket" link. Once connected to the payment website, the violator can either reference the violation by entering the ticket number or entering the violator driver' s license number (step 162) . If the violator uses his or her driver' s license number to access the violation and multiple violations are listed, the violator can choose the occurrence that he or she wishes to pay (step 164). Once the violation has been identified, a violation summary, fine amount, and payment options will be displayed (step

166). As such, the motorist has the option of paying by credit card in full or partial payment, electronic check in full or partial payment, or by online financing through approved lenders (step 168).

If the violator wishes to make an online credit card payment either in full or partial, the payor will select the credit card type and enter the card number and expiration date, and the central management system 50 will then process the transaction (step 170 of Figure 19). The databases affected will be updated accordingly such that current information will be available to municipalities and law enforcement agencies (step 170). The payor may also make an online electronic check payment via a Voice Link or online form. In this respect, the payor will provide his or her checking account number, bank name, bank and identifying number and any additional details as may be required so that the payment will be processed (step 180 of Figure 20). The payor may enter this information either via manual keyboard entry or through a voice line whereby the payor will speak into his or her computer and the information will be transmitted to the central management system for further processing as will be further explained below. Referring to Figure 21 , the payor may also make a payment via online financing wherein the payor will fill out a online loan application for the amount of the violation (step 190). If approved, the amount of the fine will be distributed to the central management system 50 from the lender on behalf of the violator. The violator will then make payments to the lender for the amount loaned.

As previously mentioned, the payor may make an payment using a Voice Link. Referring to Figure 22, if the payor selects either making a electronic check or online financing method of payment via the Voice Link option, the payor will speak to a customer service agent over the computer (step 200). Specifically, the payor will be instructed that his or her computer must be equipped with a sound card and a microphone, as well as voice link compatible software to establish the voice link (step 202). If the necessary components are not available, the payor will be notified that a voice link cannot be established. If the voice link cannot be established, the caller is given a phone number so that a line operator can assist in the payment arrangements.

Referring to Figure 23, the operation of the revenue management system 90 is shown. Specifically, as details on individual traffic or parking ticket payments are received, the same is immediately posted to the appropriate payment database (step 220).

The amount of each payment is immediately divided according to an established formula and sub-payments are posted into the accounts of the law enforcement agency involved with the violation, as well as sub-accounts for each state, county, city, etc (step 222). All law enforcement agencies, as well as controllers for municipalities and organizations, are provided with secure direct links whereby they may view statistics on collections in realtime (step 224). In this respect, payments due to respective agencies will be immediately accessible. Additionally, organizations will be able to initiate queries on specific payments or specific violations as needed (step 226). As such, the revenue management system 90 will be able to show statistics regarding the amounts collected over the past week, month, quarter, year and current year-to-date (step 226). Optionally, specific queries will be able to calculate any other time period as necessary.

In addition to the forgoing, the present invention provides for an online court as shown in Figure 24. Specifically, the court session will be held online such that any participant may be at any location and connected to others via a computer terminal. In this respect, the judge may be in any location using a camera and computer linked to the

Internet. Similarly, the defendant, ticketing officer, or witnesses may be linked to one another via the Internet. The online court can take place at any time and/or location for convenience of the participants. As such, the online court provides a method that facilitates court hearings. The present invention provides a system that facilitates the issuing and payment of moving and parking violations. In this respect, a central database is provided that is accessible by those with a need for information. The centralized database facilitates information exchange via the ticketing unit 10 and terminals connected to the Internet. As such, pertinent information may be easily transferred among agencies and individuals as needed.

Additional modifications and improvements of the present invention may also be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. Thus, the particular combination of parts described and illustrated herein is intended to represent only a certain embodiment of the present invention, and is not intended to serve as a limitation of alternative devices within the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A system for generating a ticket and processing information about the ticket, the system comprising: a. a hand-held ticketing unit, wherein said hand-held ticketing unit comprises: i. a central processing unit for processing information; and ii. a memory for storing information; and b. a central management system, wherein said central management system communicates with a database query engine in order to communicate information between said central management system and said hand-held ticketing unit.

2. The system of Claim 1, wherein the database query engine is in communication with at least one external legal database.

3. The system of Claim 1, wherein said central management system communicates with: a. a central traffic ticket database; and b. a central parking ticket database.

4. The system of Claim 1, wherein said hand-held ticketing unit further comprises a display. 5. The system of Claim 1, wherein said hand-held ticketing unit further comprises at least one input device.

6. The system o Claim 1, wherein said hand-held unit further comprises a magnetic swipe slot.

7. The system of Claim 1, wherein said hand-held ticketing unit further comprises an electronic signature pad.

8. The system of Claim 1, wherein said hand-held ticketing unit further comprises a panic key.

9. The system of Claim 1, wherein said hand-held ticketing unit communicates with said central management system via a wireless communication network.

10. The system of Claim 1, wherein said hand-held ticketing unit further comprises a Global Positioning System receiver. l The system of Claim 1, wherein said hand-held ticketing unit further comprises a printer.

12. The system of Claim 1, wherein said central management system posts information to a website. 13. A method for ticket reporting, wherein the method comprises : a. in response to a user entering details of a violation for a motorist into a ticketing unit, transmitting the details of the violation to a central management system; b. storing the details of the violation in the central management system; c. calculating a fine for the violation; d. accepting payment information; e. updating the central management system to reflect the payment information. 14. The method of Claim 13, wherein calculating the fine for the violation further comprises determining the motorist's driving record.

15. The method of Claim 13, further comprising querying the central management system to determine if there are any outstanding warrants for the motorist.

16. The method of Claim 13, wherein the payment information is for a payment made when the ticket is issued.

17. The method of Claim 16, wherein the payment is a credit card payment.

18. The method of Claim 13, further comprising printing a ticket.

19. The method of Claim 18, wherein the printed ticket comprises payment information. 20. The method of Claim 13, further comprising obtaining a signature from the motorist via an electronic signature pad.

21. The method of Claim 13, wherein the details of the violation are transmitted via a wireless communication network.

22. The method of Claim 13 , wherein the details of the violation are entered into the central management system via local data entry.

23. The method of Claim 13 , further comprising posting information from the central management system to a website for retrieval by the motorist.

24. The method of Claim 23, wherein a payment is made online using the website.

25. The method of Claim 24, wherein the payment is an online electronic check payment. 26. The method of Claim 24, wherein the payment is an online loan payment.

27. The method of Claim 23, wherein the payment information includes information regarding traffic school enrollment.

28. The method of Claim 13 wherein: a. the payment is posted to an appropriate database; and b. the payment is divided for disbursement to appropriate agencies.

29. The method of Claim 13, further comprising facilitating a court hearing with an online court, wherein there are a plurality of participants with each participant being connected via a computer terminal.

30. The method of Claim 13, wherein the violation is a traffic violation. 31. The method of Claim 13, wherein the violation is a parking violation.