In the first of its kind in Australia, on-the-spot paper tickets issued by police will be a thing of the past.

“Tasmania Police has developed a mobile app, the Police Infringement Notice System (PINS), so police on the beat can issue infringement notices electronically on their tablet computers,” said Assistant Commissioner Phil Wilkinson.

“It’s the first app developed specifically for the tablet computers which have been issued to every frontline officer,” said Mr Wilkinson.

The new PINS app can process infringements for traffic, fisheries and other offences on location.

Its features include automatic retrieval of licence, registration details and photograph of the licence holder for identity checks.

“Officers will have the ability to perform identification validation and capture geo-location data. Importantly, checks for information on prior convictions can also be made,” said Mr Wilkinson.

PINS automatically inputs the appropriate penalty for the infringement, and has the capacity to add notes and take photos.

Infringement notices enable offences to be dealt with without a court appearance. Around 90,000 infringement notices are issued by Tasmania Police a year and each paper ticket requires the information to be manually entered into the system when the officer returns to the station.

PINS processes the infringement electronically and it is then sent to the recipient by post.

“There will be significant efficiencies from PINS. It’s anticipated that the savings in police time and paperwork will amount to 20.5 police hours a day, or $250,000 annually,” said Mr Wilkinson.

PINS can be used for most infringements, including:

• traffic offences
• liquor and licensing offences
• fisheries offences
• some drink driving offences.

“The PINS application is a technology first in Australia and other police jurisdictions are closely following the development of both the app, and the computer tablet rollout,” said Mr Wilkinson.

“Tasmania is the only jurisdiction in Australia to provide tablets to all frontline officers. About 1,000 tablets have been issued, providing on the road access to all police computer systems,” he said.

The PINS is being rolled out in the Southern District by Traffic and Marine Police from today. It is anticipated statewide rollout of the Police Infringement Notice System will be complete mid-August.