FAQs
Table of Contents
Where do I get Contact Tickets?
Per the usual procedure for Uniform Traffic Tickets (UTTs), the contact tickets have been sent to the South Carolina Highway Patrol Posts for distribution to local law enforcement agencies. The Posts will either distribute them or local agencies can contact the Post to pick them up. If the initial distribution amount is not enough, agencies can fax a request for additional books to SCHP Supply at (803) 737-8312.
What is the charge for Contact Tickets?
There is no charge for the contact tickets.
Do I have to use the new Contact Ticket or can I use another form already being utilized by my Department?
There is no requirement that you use the new contact form. You may use any form you choose. The only requirement is that you collect and report information from the required fields on the new Contact Ticket to the Department of Public Safety on a monthly basis.
Will there be an annual audit on the Contact Tickets similar to that performed on the Uniform Traffic Citation?
No. The contact tickets will be treated in the same manner as the warning citations issued by DPS and no audit will be performed on the Contact Tickets.
What do we enter in the cells of the report where no contacts were made for that category?
Don't enter any information. Leave those cells blank. NOTE: Zeroes will be entered automatically for those cells.
Why isn't a particular month displayed in the drop-down list?
The system is designed such that a particular month will not display in the drop-down list until the last day of that month has past. For example, March 2007 will not be display in the drop-down list until April 1st.
Does the new requirement for collecting data on contacts when no UTT is issued apply to vehicles stopped in a traffic checkpoint?
It is the opinion of our General Counsel Office that the data collection requirement does not apply to checkpoints. Section 56-5-6560 specifically provides in part “A) Any time a motor vehicle is stopped by a state or local law enforcement officer without a citation being issued or an arrest being made, the officer who initiated the stop must complete a data collection form designed by the Department of Public Safety that must include information regarding the age, gender, and race or ethnicity of the driver of the vehicle.” The language of this section indicates that it applies when an individual officer initiates an isolated traffic stop of a specific vehicle and not all vehicles passing through a check point manned by multiple officers. This interpretation is consistent with how checkpoints are set up. Checkpoints are operated with all vehicles being treated in a uniform manner. Moreover, should officers be required to collect data on every vehicle passing through a checkpoint, motorists would be unduly delayed.
What is the process for changing the Forgot Password E-mail address?
If you need to change the Forgot Password E mail address for your agency, have the head of the organization send an E mail to the PublicContactSupport@scdps.gov address requesting that the E mail account be reset. We will remove the existing E mail account and send a confirming E mail when the task has been completed. At that point, whoever logs into the agency’s account will be prompted to put in a new E mail account that will receive the Forgotten Password information.
Does a contact report have to be completed for a motor vehicle stop in a state or federal forest or state or federal wildlife management area on roads that are not public?
Section 56-5-6560 does not distinguish between stops made on public versus private roads. Therefore, it is the opinion of the Department that stops of vehicles in a state or federal forest or state of federal wildlife management areas must be recorded on the contact form if no arrest is made or citation issued to the driver.
What should an agency do when an officer voids a warning ticket?
That contact should not be included in the contact information submitted by the agency.
How long must contact tickets be maintained? Can they be discarded after the monthly submission of data by the agency?
Once the information from a contact ticket has been submitted with the agency’s monthly submission, the contact ticket may be discarded pursuant to the individual agency’s record retention schedules.
What does an agency do if the system it uses to collect data from contact tickets uses different age ranges than the ranges required by the Department of Public Safety?
The General Assembly tasked the Department of Public Safety with creating a system for the collection of data from contact tickets. The Department designed a format which it believed would provide the most meaningful compilation of that data for review by the general public. To ensure uniformity of the data, the Department must require that all agencies report in the format requested. If an agency uses an automated system that is programmed to calculate age ranges differently than those required by the Department of Public Safety, either the system of the agency will need to be reprogrammed or the contacts will need to be calculated manually.
What is the deadline for submitting the summary report each month?
There is no set deadline or cutoff date for submitting the monthly reports. The basic guideline is that the summary report for a particular month should be submitted to the South Carolina Department of Public Safety (SCDPS) as soon as possible after the end of that month.
What should an agency do if it has submitted data for a particular month and then realizes that the data is either inaccurate or incomplete?
After data is submitted for a particular month, there is no provision for modifying the data. The reason for not allowing modifications to the data after it is submitted is an attempt to eliminate the fluidity of the data from its submission date forward. If the data is allowed to change after it has been submitted, then there is no guarantee that reports that are generated on different dates and/or different times will represent the same data.
Whenever an agency identifies an issue with their submitted data, they should annotate their internal records for that particular month. That way, if there is ever a specific inquiry, the agency can refer to their notes and provide the requester with the updated information.