Justin Blowers
Contributor
Tori Roper-Bedsole
Editor-in-Chief
New technology will eliminate the lines to pay parking tickets and buy parking decals.
The Troy University Police Department will start using a new system for its tickets and decals through Adirondack Solutions beginning Nov. 2 or 3.
The police department will move to tablet devices to write tickets and issue citations. This change will result in the student getting an email when a ticket is issued, and the ticket will be available to be paid immediately.
“You’ll get an email on your phone — and you’ll actually get a little note on your car that says you were issued a ticket by university police — and it will have a web address that you can click on and go to and you can actually pay your ticket online using PayPal,” Chief of University Police John McCall said.
To pay a ticket online, a student will have to log in with his or her Web Express credentials, then follow the instructions.
The ticket will not appear on the student’s account until 30 days after the ticket has been issued.
“Our objective is to eliminate some of the work at the box office,” McCall said. “We are encouraging students to pay the tickets online to free up the box office and make it easier for everyone.”
“I think that’s awesome,” said Noah Williams, a senior theater major from Huntsville. “It makes a lot more sense.”
McCall added that the tablets will allow the police to take pictures of the violation when issuing a ticket if they feel the need to do so. The SGA Appeals Committee will have access to the picture, but the student and University Police will not.
“We will not be taking pictures of every violation, but if a student is parked in a faculty or handicap parking space, we may take a picture of that violation,” McCall said.
McCall said the old system allowed only officers with a ticket-writing machine to write a ticket, but now any officer can write a ticket.
Victoria Vida, a senior English major from Dothan, agreed with Williams.
“That would be a whole lot better,” Vida said. “I hate the current system.”
Both Williams and Vida said they had problems with tickets either getting damaged or blown away by weather, and this new system would help resolve that problem.
McCall said the use of tablets will allow for further improvements beyond just ticket-writing.
“With this same software … students will be able to go online and purchase their decal,” McCall said. “Instead of filling out the little cards like we did this year, they’ll go online and fill all that out. And they’ll come over here (to the police station) and verify that they’ve paid for their decal and then give them their decal.”
McCall said the new decal system would probably be ready by spring 2017. He also said that the police department is adding a kiosk for visitors and students to buy decals in the station. This kiosk will accept credit cards.
“I think it’s going to be a lot better system,” McCall said. “I think the students will like it better. I think the SGA will like it better.”
Greyson Motes, an undecided freshman from Troy, said that he thinks the transition will be positive.
“I don’t see why any sane individual would say it’s a bad thing,” Motes said.
This new system will also allow for visitors to apply for parking passes online, and then pick them up at the police station.
Jonathan Moore, a senior criminal justice major from Decatur, Georgia, said he liked the idea of the new system.
“It’s more convenient for the students,” Moore said. “It’s gotten a positive reaction out of me.”
“I think it’s going to be a real nice system,” McCall said.
