Making Court Check-In Better

 

Photo by mohamed hassan from PxHere

 

Many of us have had the experience of checking in for flights or for hotel rooms.  These experiences have changed quite a bit in recent years moving from in-person to your mobile.  Looking ahead, what ideas might courts use from these systems?

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First, the idea of a navigation check-in area/counter at the courthouse is not universal.  Often it is just a list of cases and courtrooms posted near the courthouse entrance.  There may also be “help/information desks” available but not always.

One extension is to take that schedule from the display screens and mirror it on the court’s internet website. Here is an example of a screen from one court with my colleague, Felix Bajandas   The advantage of this is that people can plan ahead to appear in their courtroom at the right time.

Next, if you have a text reminder system (highly recommended) then you can send the URL (address) of the schedule to the people to use that day. Those steps can help to get people to the courtroom on time. 

But there is an additional problem to solve, it doesn’t help the court to know they have appeared at the courthouse.  This is where we can learn from the travel and hospitality industry as well as one of our court technology vendors.  One way is to allow the scheduled person to text the court.  Or one could adapt their apps can allow the person to respond to the court they are planning on attending.  Here is one example of a company that has that kind of system.

A big benefit of check-in is to allow the courtroom bailiff and the judge to organize appearances before the bench.  People could alternatively wait in a comfortable waiting area instead of sitting on our “church pews” And, it allows the judge/bailiffs/clerks to know that a person has appeared and eliminate the time spent calling people.

And finally, for more complex interactions such as that needed in substance treatment courts, one could create special counters to handle those conversations with trained staff.

Does your court allow for mobile or similar check-in?  If you do, please share below in the comments section.  It may take a day or two for me to approve your comment so please be patient.