The Clanton Police Department has received an equipment grant to purchase four e-citation machines — including laptop computers and printers — and required training.

The grant was awarded from ADECA through the Highway Traffic Safety Division.

Police Chief Brian Stilwell and Detective Neil Fetner traveled to Tuscaloosa last week to pick up the computers.

The equipment will be used in addition to similar machines already in place. Recent state law changes required departments to start producing traffic citations and other reports electronically.

“I must thank the mayor and city council for working so well with us to meet all these state mandated technology and information sharing improvements,” said Stilwell. “Through their investment and with our success in grant funding, we have been able to meet all our new reporting requirements and are now ahead of many other agencies in the state.”

The city of Clanton Police Department has secured more than $370,000 in non-match grants or other equipment funding in the past year to help pay for these projects.

Stilwell said the equipment has paid for itself on saved man-hours and in its effectiveness.
For example, he said the new technology helped the department quickly charge Kenton Maurice Hall, who was arrested Tuesday in Alexander City, in connection with Friday’s robbery of Peachtree Bank

“These technology upgrades helped us share information that secured the charging of Mr. Hall, who was arrested in Alexander City for robbery,” Stilwell said.

“We would have eventually charged Mr. Hall — we were looking for the same person — but with our technology updates and the ease and speed of sharing information now between agencies throughout the county, state, and region, we are able to close a lot of these cases so much faster.”