Orion Press Release

RCSO Receives 2012 DGAA Award for AgencyWeb® CourtNotify

May 7, 2012 3:26:00 PM

Dallas, TX (August 31, 2012) On 08/23/12 the Riverside County Sheriff Department's AgencyWeb® CourtNotify eSubpoena Project received a co-winner DGAA award in the Government-to-Government category by the Center for Digital Government.  The 2012 Digital Government Achievement Awards (DGAA) recognizes outstanding agency and projects at the application and infrastructure level.

 

dgaa_2012_wnr_cmyk

The executive director of the Center of Digital Government stated "We're excited about the opportunities governments are creating to make new things possible and to do the old things faster and more efficiently." RCSO’s eSubpoena project clearly demonstrates this by dramatically changing and streamlining the process of issuing subpoenas (criminal and traffic court) directly to employees in fractions of a second via email or text message.

 

Prior to AgencyWeb® CourtNotify, subpoenas for deputies were received via mail or fax at each sheriff facility and routed to employees by hand. Notices that case hearings had been postponed or canceled also had to be researched individually and employees notified via phone. Due to the volume of subpoenas and quickly changing statuses on hundreds of cases, timely and accurate notifications were not possible and often resulted in unneeded trips to court on cases that had already been closed.

 

Since its implementation in July 2011, the system has issued or cancelled almost 30,000 subpoenas to the departments' employees on 17,500 different court appearances. This automation has allowed support staff previously assigned to process subpoenas to be redeployed on other clerical tasks and dramatically reduced unnecessary trips to court for officers on and off duty. The resulting savings in employee time and OT expenses is estimated at more than $500,000 for its first year of usage. Another key factor in this successful project has been the Riverside County District Attorney's Office who cooperatively developed the interface between their case management system and RCSO's CourtNotify system.

 

RCSO’s CourtNotify project was created and funded by a 2010 United States Department of Justice COPS Technology Grant the agency received to streamline internal operations, save money and keep deputies and investigators in the field actively working cases instead of making unnecessary trips to court.

 

AgencyWeb® CourtNotify is a product of Orion Communications.  It is specifically designed to improve law enforcement court attendance, civilian subpoena service, and the coordination of attendance with any type of court docket.