Story originally published in The Sylva Herald on Feb. 14
Jackson County has implemented the Court Date Notification and Reminder Service that will allow users to gain easy access to criminal court information via email or text messaging.
The North Carolina Judicial System launched the statewide service in October 2018.
“The court system is trying to become more modernized and utilize technology to connect with the people of Jackson County,” Jackson County Clerk of Court, Ann Melton, said.
Users can subscribe by visiting www.nccourts.com and entering the case number assigned by the court. In the case of weather postponing court dates, for example, people will be immediately notified and given the rescheduled date. Notifications regarding room or session changes are sent through the automated service also. Reminders are sent out seven days prior to the court date and again the day before the individual is expected to appear in court.
Another motivation behind the service is to prevent failure to appear incidents. A primary reason for failure to appear is defendants not remembering their scheduled court date. Jackson County does not currently have a tracking system that measures their failure to appear rates.
“It’s a shame that we don’t know our current failure to appear rate, but it is also probably too soon to measure the success rate of the new program,” Melton said.
The service can be used for any criminal cases or infractions, such as traffic tickets. Civil cases are not included in this notification system, Melton said.
Once the case has been resolved or closed, users will no longer receive messages regarding their case.
Melton emphasized that this notification system cannot be accessed without the case number.
The system eliminates the hassle of calling the Justice Center and have operators search for the individual’s information. This messaging service can be used anywhere in North Carolina.
Awareness of the new services has been made mostly by word-of-mouth so far. The Jackson County magistrates’ office promotes the system when individuals come in needing court information. Melton hopes that media exposure will help raise awareness of the technological advancement.
The clerk of court is excited about the new change in the court system as this advancement will help to keep citizen’s in the loop by providing quick access to their court information, she said.
