A new provincial pilot project aimed at bringing court processes into the 21st century is getting its start in Barrie this fall.
Criminal e-Intake will automate the current manual, paper-based process used by police to start a criminal case.
By establishing a digital information channel between the police and the courts, the project will enable police to electronically submit new charges for a justice of the peace to review electronically. Justices of the peace will then be able to enter their decisions electronically, digitally sign documents and send decisions back to the police.
“I think Barrie was chosen because we’re sort of unique,” said Barrie police Staff Sgt. Linda Moorhouse, who's with the Court Services Unit. “We have seven different police organizations that deal with this courthouse. It’s very busy and dynamic in terms of the number or organizations that work with it.”
The e-Intake process is part of the efforts to eliminate the use of paper. Information will be electronically sent by officers to the justice of the peace, who will be monitoring an electronic inbox. It eliminates the extra step of pushing the paper.
An Information is an official document created when police lay a charge, which outlines preliminary details including the accused's legal name, date of birth, arresting officer and details of the charges.
When an officers swears to an Information, they have to provide grounds for the charge. That portion will now be an electronic summary that accompanies the electronic Information, whereas previously the justice of the peace would listen to the officer provide the grounds orally.
The new system seeks to streamline court processes.
“Anytime you’re dealing with a large volume of paper, there’s opportunity for things to be misplaced,” said Moorhouse. “I think that probably did happen upon occasion. There’s also a lot of moving parts in this building – a lot of different hands touch the same piece of paper. By moving toward electronic, the hope is it won’t get misplaced or misfiled.”
The Department of Corrections, various police services, probation, the Ministry of the Attorney General, the Crown attorney’s office as well as other organizations all work together using the same Information document.
“If we’re all working together using the same paperless system, it will be a more seamless process,” said Moorhouse. “It may also be quicker and less opportunity for error.
“The hope is, if you can eliminate some steps in the process, hopefully it makes things a little easier,” she added.
The pilot project is on track for a fall launch.
According to Moorhouse, testing will start this month and run into October. Implementation is planned for November.
“It’s great to be the testing area, because we’ll be much more familiar with it once it’s rolled out everywhere,” she said. “Hopefully, we’ll get to see the issues as they pop up and they can be fixed right there and then. It’s good in that sense, to have direct input into this system that’s going to be rolled out (everywhere).”
The project is for criminal court only, and won’t be used for federal or provincial charges.
However, if the project is successful, that could change.
“It would be nice if all the charges we deal with could go the same way... like with the federal and provincial charges, too,” said Moorhouse. “It would make it so much easier if we were dealing with the same process for everything.”
