Current events
Boater Safety Class Schedule
The 2008 Boater Safety Class Schedule and Information is now available. For registration, hours, and cost information, download the following Adobe PDF document.
2008 Boater Safety Class Schedule
TraCS (Traffic and Criminal Software)
The Dane County Sheriff’s Office has now implemented the electronic crash form and is actively transferring electronic crash reports instead of paper reports using TraCS software. The Electronic Citation is the next form to be implemented at Dane County.
The TraCS program is Traffic and Criminal Software designed for use in the Mobile Data Computers in the squad cars. It was developed by the Iowa Department of Transportation under a federal grant and made available to any state requesting to join in the project.
TraCS is an integrated suite of electronic forms whose purpose is to make law enforcement paperwork more efficient and accurate. Once data is keyed into a form, the file is electronically transmitted to various databases as the form is processed, without the information being keyed in over and over again. For example, a traffic citation is filled out on the squad car laptop, a copy is printed out for the violator, and the file is then transferred to the agency’s Records Management System, then to the Court System, and finally to DOT to update the driver’s files.
TraCS accessories that are available to make the officer’s job easier include a bar code reader, digital camera, GPS system and in-car printer.
WisDOT has been developing the Wisconsin version of TraCS, called “Badger TraCS” and, over the last year, several law enforcement agencies have been beta testing the program, including the State Patrol and the Dane County Sheriff’s Office. The suite of forms will be available for use throughout the state soon.
Officers and supervisors especially like the validation feature of the TraCS program. Hundreds of rules are programmed into the software and warns an officer if required data is missing or does not match the circumstances, before the officer submits the report for review. The quality and accuracy of reports increases dramatically with the use of TraCS.
Badger TraCS will include forms for Crash Reports, Deer Crash Reports, Amended Crash Reports, Electronic Citations and Warnings. Future plans include adding forms for Incident Reports.