Judge Rose Zamora Awarded McMillan Scholarship at CTC-2019

Jim McMillan and Judge Rose Zamora at CTC-2019

We are pleased to share that Judge Rose Zamora from the New Braunfels Texas Municipal Court was awarded the McMillan Scholarship at the CTC 2019 Conference for her innovations.  Much more below:

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In her application for the scholarship Judge Zamora wrote: "Historically, municipal courts across the nation have been the most visited court and the highest volume courts.   I have been the Judge for New Braunfels Municipal Court in Texas since 2013.  In that time frame, there have been between 13,000 – 18,000 cases filed in any given year.  Due to the volume, we have to find creative ways to manage our court.  I have also dreamed up of other ways that I would like to add technology to the Court; however, money is the ultimate barrier to such ideas not coming to fruition.”

Facing that reality, she worked with her city Geographic Information System (GIS) department resources to create a warrant map application.  The idea is that our officers would have a warrant map with everyone’s information readily accessible.  “The map would work much like a heat map outlining where the most warrants were at in each patrol district.  When an officer was able to, they could review their respective district and serve warrants on those individuals whose cases were outstanding.  The warrant map allows for an officer to see a photo of the individual, and it allows the officer to review the address, notes, charges, fine amounts, and vehicle information.  Officers were also able to write any notes such as individual has moved or individual will go to court to take care of.  This data would then go to the warrant officer, and he would make updates in our Incode system by Tyler Technologies.”

Judge Zamora explained her next innovative tech project that their court undertook.  She wrote:
“Since our town is visited by many during the summer months due to our rivers and the tubing industry, we have many out of town guests who run afoul of the criminal justice system and find themselves ticketed.  To offer a method of convenience and an ability for one to remain informed of the criminal justice system, we offered the out of town guests the option to use “Zoom video conference” https://zoom.us/ versus having to make a return trip to New Braunfels to attend open court.  The video conferencing allows for an individual to obtain their rights, to be informed of their types of pleas, and to review their available options for their ticket.  This mechanism is not meant for contested cases.  Individuals wishing to use our video conference docket must want to learn of their rights and find an option that does not involve a trial.”

And last (but not least) Judge Zamora described their “Citation Options” web page that allows defendants to choose options including to pay online if they are eligible but also file for dismissal, driving safety course, a deferred disposition, or to schedule an appearance in court.  Judge Zamora said that she would really like to do a mobile phone app to expand this capability.

What we very much appreciate in Judge Zamora is that the size of her court and town did not dissuade her from pursuing technology solutions.  That and as you read above makes her a very deserving person (and court) to be honored with the award.