Proposed Rules Archives

• Proposed Changes to GR 30 - Electronic Filing (in Word Format)
• No comments were submitted.

Purpose: The ETRIP initiative started as an effort to reduce redundant data entry, reduce time required to create and file documents with courts and other agencies, and ensure the correctness of data. ETRIP allows law enforcement officers to electronically create and send collisions and citations to the appropriate state agency. ETRIP consists of the SECTOR (Statewide Electronic Collision & Traffic Online Records) application, the JINDEX (Justice Information Network Data Exchange), and many enhancements to applications at AOC (Administrator for the Courts), DOL (Department of Licensing), and DOT (Department of Transportation).

SECTOR is currently available free of charge to all local law enforcement in Washington. It is being used by over 150 agencies and courts including Washington State Patrol (WSP), tribal agencies, and other local law enforcement agencies.

ETRIP and SECTOR benefit law enforcement officers, court staff, and DOL and DOT staff by reducing filing time and data entry time, and by providing more accurate data. Unfortunately, the current language of GR 30(d)(2) reduces SECTOR’s effectiveness.

SECTOR consists of a client application that resides on a law enforcement officer's computer which allows them to quickly and easily capture data related to citations and collisions. This data is sent to the SECTOR BackOffice application which resides at WSP. The SECTOR BackOffice application stores and sends the data to the AOC, DOL, and DOT as applicable, where it is processed accordingly.

Background and Proposed Change to GR 30(d)(1)(A)

Law enforcement officers that receive SECTOR training receive the user ID and password after electronic filing training is completed. They do not receive the user ID and password from the electronic service provider. Rather, they receive them from their local system administrator. The proposal to GR 30(d)(1)(A) eliminates the words “applied for” and “provider,” and adds that officers receive their passwords from a government agency. This will allow law enforcement officers to use electronic filing as long as they have a user ID and password. This change in the rule does not affect the overall intent of electronic filing: that electronic filers must maintain and use a user ID and password to electronically file their cases.

Background and Proposed Change to GR 30(d)(2)(D)

When an officer creates an incident/eTicket, using SECTOR, they sign onto the client application to create the incident. Once the incident is created, the ticket(s) may be served on a defendant and electronically filed with a court, or may be routed to a prosecutor for review and filing with a court. Defendants are no longer required to sign their copy of a ticket and an officer's signature on the ticket or citation is achieved by them using their user ID and password, following GR 30. See GR 30(d)(2)(D).

Many counties and cities do not authorize police officers to directly file criminal charges. Instead, the prosecuting authorities in these jurisdictions require the police officers to forward their reports for prosecutor review. The prosecuting authority then makes an independent charging decision after reviewing the criminal history of the suspect, considering available defenses, the prosecutorial standards set forth at RCW 9.94A.411, and local charging standards. If the prosecuting attorney determines that charges will be pursued, the charging decision is memorialized by the filing of a complaint pursuant to CrRLJ 2.1(a).

Unfortunately, GR 30(d)(2)(D) does not provide that documents completed by the officer in the SECTOR system that are sent to the prosecutor for charging purposes will be presumed to have been signed by the officer for purposes of the perjury statute. The same issue applies with respect to any documents attached to the eTicket and filed with the court.

In addition, GR 30(d)(2)(D) does not provide that documents attached to eTickets are presumed to meet the requirements of RCW 9A.72.085 that, in addition to signature, they must include the date and place of signature.

This proposal treats any document completed by an officer with his or her user ID and password that is transmitted through the SECTOR system to a prosecutor or to a court to be “signed under penalty of perjury.