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 Law
enforcement's need for a system with MOA's capabilities was identified during
research conducted by Anacapa Sciences for the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration (NHTSA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Transportation.
One study found that traffic officers with easy access to remote data bases
are responsible for making 37 percent of the arrests made by the entire
agency. To facilitate traffic enforcement, Anacapa Sciences developed MOA
with its partner Toomay Technologies, under contract with NHTSA. Specific
features and capabilities of MOA have been designed to increase the safety
and effectiveness of law enforcement officers through the application of
advanced technology, guided by human factors design principles. MOA also
delivers the many cost-saving advantages of automation. Police and court
managers believe that an MOA system can pay for itself within the first
year of operation.
 The MOA is a system
of hand-held computers that enables law enforcement officers to check license
plates for registration violations and stolen vehicles, and drivers' licenses
for outstanding warrants and driving privileges, quickly and easily. MOA
provides this important information almost instantly and without involving
busy dispatchers and radio channels. For this reason, MOA-equipped officers
are safer and able to contribute more to the overall mission of a law enforcement
agency than officers who are limited to voice communications or whose mobility
is restricted by vehicle-mounted systems.
 MOA captures data
from the magnetic stripes or bar codes on drivers' licenses and uses the
information to create a traffic citation automatically. Officers may use
drop-down menus, a soft keyboard, and/or handwriting recognition to enter
data. Motorists sign their names on the computer screen. Then the electronic
tickets are "beamed" to a portable printer that produces a paper
copy for the motorist and a digital version of the citation is transmitted
immediately to police headquarters and the courts for timely processing,
and without further human intervention.
 Court directors are
delighted with MOA because it eliminates their data entry requirements,
speeds the processing of citations, and results in more violations per citation
than the paper forms it replaces. Officers greatly appreciate MOA's labor-saving
and safety features. Even officers who initially resist the switch from
paper forms to the new technology become advocates of the system. One officer
reported recently that there would be open rebellion in the ranks if anyone
tried to take MOA away from them now.
MOA was designed by human factors specialists to state-of-the-art ergonomic
standards and incorporates many features that minimize officer workload
while maximizing situational awareness. It is doubtful that any other law
enforcement software has been designed with greater attention to human factors
and officer safety issues than MOA.
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