by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
If you work Downtown, it’s likely you have seen police officers, attorneys and bailiffs lugging brown folders across Bay Street from the Police Memorial Building to the Courthouse.
Those folders are filled with all of the paperwork associated with a particular cases — or cases.
If you have ever gotten a traffic citation, you know there’s a certain amount of paperwork associated with that violation.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office is looking to eliminate the amount of paper it produces and has to store and two bills introduced to City Council Tuesday night will go a long way towards accomplishing that goal.
“Those jackets are filled with the original arrests and other records and they are taken every day over to the Courthouse,” said Chief Adam Brown of the JSO’s Continuous Improvement Division. “It’s a large undertaking. The (JSO) records clerks put them together and the bailiffs deliver to the courtroom the judges are using.
“This will allow us to totally cut out the paper and electronically provide the records to judges. It will save us a lot of man-hours. The best part is, it won’t come out of the City budget. It’s all grant money.”
The grant — $476,682 — will come from the U.S. Department of Justice. Through it, Brown will be able to purchase the entire system to include the hardware, software and installation.
“We should be able to implement this in about a year,” said Brown. “We are doing our homework on whether this can be a proprietary purchase or if has to be put out to bid.
“We will put together a users committee and tailor it for the judges. I wanted to do this two years ago.”
The other piece of legislation will allow traffic officers who issue citations — both warnings and tickets — to produce a hard copy for only the driver of the vehicle. After that, the file would remain completely electronic.
“We can send them to Tallahassee or the Clerk’s Office. It will save us money on paper and other supplies,” said Brown.
The system will cost $202,293 and all of it will also come in the form of a Justice Department grant.
“Once these guys (the officers) get used to the system, it will also save a lot of time,” said Brown. “The technology will allow the officer to swipe the driver’s license and pre-fill out the citation.
“This will go to bid most likely and we could be using it in about a year. We want to better serve the taxpayer and not affect the city budget.”
356-2466