Departmental Improvements
Criminal Division
(The Criminal Division is responsible for the maintenance of records and the collection of fines and fees for misdemeanor criminal actions and traffic matters heard through the Gary City Court).
Accounting
Entries for payments are posted in a computer-generated ledger, reconciliations are calculated and entered into a spreadsheet. Prior to my tenure, entries for payment were manually posted in book ledger.
Booking
All tickets delivered to the Clerk’s office from the Police Department are sorted, recorded and scanned into a separate computer. Dockets for traffic tickets are entered and printed from system by booking clerk. Prior to my tenure, dockets for traffic tickets were manually typed by the booking clerk and there was no working procedure to track tickets issued by the police officers.
Cash Bonds
A computer ledger has been created to better track bond activity in the fiscal division. A bond information form is provided to the bond poster explaining the options of cash bonds and surety bonds and a contact supplemental form. Prior to my tenure, there was no tracking of bond activity, no bond information sheet provided to the bond poster, and no contact supplemental form completed. We have found significant inaccuracies in manual ledger entries and oftentimes funds appear to have been held in trust due to the office having no contact information on the bond poster.
Court Calendars
Court calendars are generated by the computer. Dockets for court dates on calendars are matched to entries in the computer program, decreasing the overall number of dockets with transitory status. Prior to my tenure, dockets were gathered with no re-checks and calendars were manually typed.
Electronic transmissions
For the past several years, our office has electronically transmitted conviction and dismissal data (SR16’s) to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles as necessary to comply with federal regulations. Prior to my tenure, this capability did not exist.
Our office registers motions data in our data base system to receipt mail, record new court dates, dispositions, and incoming motions that identify actions taken by the judge. Prior to my tenure, two different manual log books were used to receipt mail and record new dates, dispositions, and actions by the judge. No system previously allowed for organized tracking.
Warrants
Bench warrants are entered into our networking system and linked to a server from which they are uploaded to software located in radio dispatch of the Gary Police Department. Police Officers and radio dispatch are provided with the capability to check warrants from the Clerk’s office 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Warrants are updated regularly for status accuracies. Prior to my tenure, this networking ability was not available.