Contra Costa Lawyer - Contra Costa County Bar Association

High Tech
Solutions
in the Wake of the
Budget Crisis
by Barry Lynch
Court IT Director
In the April 2010 edition of the Contra
Costa Lawyer, the Court Executive
Officer, Kiri Torre, described how the
Superior Court planned to focus on technological
solutions to maintain critical
services to the public during the budget
crisis and significantly reduced staffing
levels. The Court has restructured its
Information Technology Division and
redirected the division’s efforts to better
support judicial officers, staff, and the
public.
IT staff have been formed into two
functional groups: infrastructure (hardware,
software, network and phones); and
application (case management systems
(CMSs), statistics) support. The infrastructure
group is focusing on the opening
of the new Arnason Justice Center located
in Pittsburg, and the complete overhaul
of the Court’s data network. The applications
group is upgrading the civil case
management system, to better support
statistical reporting, and automating
manual clerical processes.
So, how is the Court doing on some of
the 2010 priorities listed in the April
article?
Telephone System Upgrade
new Interactive Voice Response
A (IVR) system to provide a menu of
choices to obtain information 24/7 without
needing to talk to a clerk: Draft
telephone message scripts for the traffic
and criminal divisions have been completed
and are under final review; drafting
the remaining
operational areas of the
Court begins in September.
The complete system is planned to be
in place by the end of the calendar year.
E-Citations
The electronic submission of traffic
citations from participating agencies
to the court to eliminate manual data
entry and expedite case processing time:
The Court is currently identifying local
law enforcement agencies (LEAs) that are
actively considering the use of hand-held
electronic ticketing devices for issuing
traffic citations. The Court’s goal is to
create a single data exchange interface for
all county LEAs to use to transfer data to
the Court’s case management systems
eliminating the need for manual clerical
data entry.
Credit Card Payments
at the Public Counter
The ability to pay by credit card at the
public counters: The Court is completing
the installation of additional
telephone lines to support credit card
machines at the public counter windows
in all county courthouses. Credit card
payments are scheduled to be effective
November 1 st .
Expansion of Information on the
Court’s Web Site
The Court is in the process of redesigning
and enhancing its website. The
18 September 2010