Washington State Tests Electronic Citation System

According to a Press Release from the Washington Courts:
"Drivers stopped for violating traffic laws in Washington, or who are involved in a collision, are going to see something new. Currently, a select group of officers from local and state law enforcement agencies are using a system that allows electronic ticketing and collision reporting. Preliminary feedback indicates a reduction in traffic stop times."

"Prior to testing the electronic system, I timed a number of my traffic stops," said Officer David Johansen of the Lacey Police Department. "Electronic ticketing has cut these times by about half, allowing drivers to get back on the road faster." A study will be conducted to determine the amount of time officers actually save. Results are expected in fall 2007.
The overall project known as "eTrip" has a website with additional information on this and other initiatives.

King County Language Interpreter Website Wins Award

In 2006, the National Association for Court Management recognized the King County, Washington District Court with their Justice achievement award.  The Washington Courts noted this award in a press release that describes the system.  In addition, you can visit the website and download a Technical FAQ.  A well deserved award for an innovative system.

New Technology Trends Articles Posted

John Matthias and Jim McMillan have posted two new trends articles on the NCSC's website. John's article is titled E-Filing Expansion in State, Local, and Federal Courts 2007. Jim's article is titled Using Technology to Improve Customer Service. Both can be downloaded by clicking on the title links. Both articles are part of the NCSC's Future Trends in State Courts series that are compiled each year in the the Trends Report.

Phoenix Municipal Court Offers WiFi Service

Tim Lawler, the IST Division Administrator of the Phoenix, Arizona Municipal Court wrote recently that they have installed "no charge" filtered wireless Internet service in their court.

Federal Courts Speed Prisoner Transfers

The February, 2007 US Federal Courts newsletter, The Third Branch contains an article on their web based "eDesignate" system "that allows a probation office and the U.S. Marshals Service to electronically transmit documents to the Bureau of Prisons after a defendant is sentenced to custody". The article goes on to note that "more than 14,000 designations have been made using the eDesignate system".

Federal Appellate Courts Go Live with CM/ECF

The March, 2007 issue of The Third Branch federal court newsletter contains an article on the implementation of their new case management system in 2007. The article states that the new system will allow for electronic document filing in the near future.

Louisiana Courts Issue RFP

The Louisiana Courts have issued the following notice:

The purpose of this RFP is to solicit proposals for procurement of a Microsoft Sequel Server integrated adult court case management system entitled “The Louisiana Court Connection” to be administered by the Louisiana Supreme Court Judicial Administrator’s Office CMIS Division. The intent of the Louisiana Court Connection is to provide Louisiana city courts with an effective means of managing civil, traffic, criminal, probation (special sentencing), appeals, and court services data and provide financial tracking of court furnished fines and fees, case scheduling, document indexing and preservation, standard form and report generation, and ad-hoc query functional capabilities. Software development for the Louisiana Court Connection will be acquired through competitive contract negotiations on a fixed fee basis.

The complete RFP is posted on the Court’s website (www.lasc.org). Paper copies of the RFP can be obtained by contacting:

Carmelitte Venturella
Louisiana Supreme Court
Office of the Judicial Administrator
CMIS Division
400 Royal Street, Suite 1190
New Orleans, Louisiana 70130-8101
(504) 310-2571
FAX (504) 310-2570
Email: mailto:cventurella@lajao.org

The value of project management...

TechRepublic recently published an article titled Project management 101--the case for project management by Tom Mochal. There are many books and articles on the subject of making a case for project management, but this is a brief article that gets right to the point. Every project (especially IT projects) will have risks to manage and unexpected problems to deal with. You can deal with these issues in a haphazard or reactive mode or you can deal with them in a proactive and controlled manner. I’m betting the latter is what most of us would want.

Innovations in Justice: Information Sharing Strategies and Best Practices Conference

SEARCH Group has announced the Innovations in Justice: Information Sharing Strategies and Best Practices Conferences at the Hyatt Regency-Minneapolis, in Minnesota, March 27-29, 2007 and later; June 4-6, 2007 at the Hyatt Regency-Jacksonville Riverfront, Jacksonville, FL. Domingo S. Herraiz, Director, Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice is keynote speaker on Day 1 of the conference in Minneapolis.

Free Public Wi-Fi Scam Article

During my travels in recent weeks I have seen the "Free Public Wi-Fi" scam show up at four different airports when looking for a wireless Internet connection. I have seen it in Chicago, Washington Dulles, and both Tampa and Richmond where there are actually free connections available. If you are interested, here is an excellent ComputerWorld article about the problem.