News

Court Computer Systems Unifies Case Processing, Improves Access to Court Data, Aids Law Enforcement

February 21, 2007

HARRISBURG, February 22, 2007 — Pennsylvania is the largest state in the country to install statewide computer case management systems in all of its criminal trial courts, solidifying its standing as a national leader in judicial automation, the state Supreme Court today announced. The systems improve the overall efficiency of the state’s criminal justice system and the management of the courts, while aiding law enforcement through the timely sharing of critical criminal information. “The ability to quickly access the most current court information throughout the state – information including prior convictions, bail history, pending charges and outstanding warrants – is invaluable to judges, law enforcement officers and other criminal justice agencies,” Chief Justice of Pennsylvania Ralph J. Cappy said. “The Court would like to offer a special thank you to Chief Justice Emeritus Stephen A. Zappala for continuing to lead the computerization project for the Court.” The Common Pleas Criminal Case Management System (CPCMS), the latest and largest phase in the automation of Pennsylvania’s courts recently was completed with the installment of the system in Philadelphia, the state’s largest judicial district. The new system serves: -- as a central data warehouse, enabling, for the first time, staff in 67 Common Pleas Courts to electronically share case information and associated data not only between county courts but also with the state’s 548 magisterial district courts and Supreme, Superior and Commonwealth courts. -- as a link with Pennsylvania’s Criminal Justice Network – an integrated public safety network developed by the executive branch – to expeditiously exchange critical court information with local, state and federal authorities, as well as executive branch agencies such as the Pennsylvania State Police, and the departments of Transportation and Corrections. The Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts (AOPC) is responsible for the state’s judicial automation efforts and works closely with the Criminal Justice Network (JNET) to help achieve its goal of enhancing the safety of our communities through the exchange of information. Phil Tomassini, Executive Director of JNET, said “Implementation of the Common Pleas Case Management System in all 67 counties of the Commonwealth provides tremendous value to criminal justice and public safety officials throughout the Commonwealth. Through a completely integrated judicial system, authorized JNET users now have access to reliable and accurate court information through one system which has dramatically increased investigators’ productivity as well as improving officer safety.” The state’s automation efforts have reduced the need to transfer court data via paper files, thus eliminating delays and the chance that the data would get lost and possibly never forwarded to the appropriate law enforcement authorities. Moreover, one consistent format for court data makes it easier to transfer quickly and has enabled AOPC and JNET to expeditiously deploy additional applications such as docket sheet information, court calendars and a warrants database to criminal justices users. For example, when a court official logs a warrant on CPCMS in Erie, it can be viewed immediately by court officials in every other county in the state. Within minutes, local, other state and federal law enforcement officials can be alerted of the Erie warrant by accessing the AOPC’s warrant database. Col. Jeffrey B. Miller, Commissioner of the Pennsylvania State Police, said “Judicial automation at the state level has vastly improved our ability to obtain consistent, accurate and detailed court data on a timely basis, aiding in many law enforcement functions. In addition, up-to-date warrant information improves the safety of law enforcement officials, particularly when making an arrest or traffic stop.” Law enforcement officials also can be assisted by the AOPC through its system’s data exchange with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, allowing driver’s license photos to be printed on warrants for identification purposes. Furthermore, the AOPC provides access to statewide bail information and court history, as well as other online resources that can assist judges when making decisions regarding bail for potentially dangerous defendants. Benefits to county court users and the public The AOPC’s Common Pleas system also improves court efficiency at the local level, providing docketing, calendaring, accounting, collection, payment and a wide variety of other court functions for judges and their staffs, clerks of court and county court administration staff. The system’s “event-next event concept,” for example, is a sophisticated work-flow feature that can be customized by county staff to help them manage caseloads by anticipating upcoming case events. Its scheduling function provides schedules for judges, attorneys and law enforcement officers to assist court administrators in planning for hearings and trials. County court staffs no longer have to manually complete docket and statistical reports for the AOPC. CPCMS eliminates the need for county staff to complete docket transcripts and statistical reports, and can reduce redundant data entry by electronically transferring charge information to and from county district attorney offices. (see attached list of additional CPCMS benefits) CPCMS also helps victims who benefit from its uniform disbursement schedule that enforces the high priority of payments to victims required by law and provides data to the Crime Victims’ Compensation Board within the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency. The system has 8,100 users with read and write capabilities. Another 4,300 local judicial staff, criminal justice partners and law enforcement officials have the ability to view “secure,” or more detailed, court case docket sheets on the AOPC’s Web portal, accessed through passwords. Secure Web docket sheets are also made available through JNET to additional users who belong to JNET’s criminal history or criminal justice security groups. Anyone with Internet access can log on to ujsportal.pacourts.us to view “public” Web docket sheets from the magisterial district, criminal Common Pleas and appellate courts at no cost. The Common Pleas Case Management System development and implementation process “Integrating 60 judicial districts, or essentially 60 different court systems, into one case management system was a monumental job,” said Court Administrator of Pennsylvania Zygmont A. Pines, Esq. “Our users and staff experienced and overcame predictable challenges that were to be expected in a system deployment of this scope. I am especially grateful, for the patience and persistence of our staff and the counties' clerks of courts as we struggled to overcome obstacles and find solutions." As the counties came onto the system between 2003 and 2006 the benefits, of sharing court information were quick to follow. “Midway through the deployment of the system we began receiving reports of county officials who had apprehended individuals who came into their office to pay court costs while having an open warrant in another county” Pines said. “It was evident that the system, with its ‘outstanding warrant’ flag posted on computer screens, was making it increasingly more difficult for individuals with outstanding warrants to move from county courthouse to county courthouse and avoid notice. The ability of county court staff and others to identify more individuals with outstanding warrants should result in more warrants served and more fines, fees, costs and restitution being paid to crime victims, counties and municipalities.” CPCMS is comprehensive yet flexible. During its development, the AOPC staff, in consultation with county staff in joint application design meetings, identified common system requirements and those unique to the counties’ court operations and developed customized functions, when possible, to facilitate traditional practices in the counties. In addition, the AOPC staff has developed nearly 440 reports, forms and court documents to meet various county reporting needs, and staff continues to add additional reports as the need arises. Today users run approximately 14,000 of these reports daily. The AOPC provided extensive training for county users as part of the county-by-county implementation process. Most system users received training prior to each county’s “go-live” date and the AOPC continues to provide ongoing training for current and new county employees, and operates a toll-free Help Desk for county users. Some smaller counties had at least two trainers on-site for at least four weeks. Larger counties had more trainers on-site for longer periods of time. Philadelphia, for example, had 10 trainers on-site for more than 16 weeks of training before going live on CPCMS and many staff remained on site through December to assist the Philadelphia staff with post-CPCMS implementation issues. “The amount of court data transferred to CPCMS from literally hundreds of different county court systems is staggering,” Pines said. “Information regarding more than 5.6 million existing court cases was transferred to the statewide system. Although cases dating back to the 1970s can be found on CPCMS, transferred case information typically dates back 10 to 15 years or to the time when the county first computerized its courts operations.” (see attached county-by-county case transfer chart) AOPC officials estimate that more than four million new cases will be docketed in both the Common Pleas and the magisterial judge case management systems in 2007. The CPCMS project included the purchase and installation of more than 800 computers and more than 480 printers in the state’s 67 counties at the cost of $4.6 million. “Remarkably,” Pines added, “one county had no computers and operated strictly with paper files at the time the system was implemented!” CPCMS computer hardware/software CPCMS is a four-tiered client/server, windows based application distributed using Citrix XP. The user screens were developed using Visual Basic.NET. One of the system’s middle tiers was developed in Java, utilizing Sybase’s EA Server platform and a Sybase ASE Database. There is also a Crystal Enterprise tier used to generate the more than 400 different forms and reports that can be run by CPCMS users. History of Pennsylvania’s judicial automation Statewide judicial automation began in the 1980s under the direction of Chief Justice Emeritus Stephen A. Zappala. Since the inception of the first phase of the overall judicial computer project, the AOPC has broken new ground while developing three major statewide case management systems to date: the Magisterial District Judge System, completed in 1992; the Pennsylvania Appellate Court Case Management System, completed in 2000; and the newly-completed Common Pleas Criminal Case Management System. The judicial automation projects are funded primarily by a portion of annual court costs, fines and fees.