83 - View Protection Orders - Proof of Concept

 
Request Status Summary
Request Status Closed
Status Comment This request was closed due to the minimal amount of ISD resources involved.
Request Detail
Requestor Name:
   Morford, Heather on behalf of Gender & Justice Commission, Chief Justice Madsen - Chair
Origination Date:
   03/23/2011
    
Recommended Endorser:
   AOC (endorses for other communities)
Request Type: New System
Which Systems are affected? Other
Other affected Systems / Business Processes Non-JIS systems; Thurston Co. Document Imaging Systems, Thurston Co. Sheriff's Imaging Systems.
Business Area: Orders
Communities Impacted: Superior Court Judges
County Clerks
Public and Other Users
Impact if not Resolved: High
Impact Description:

No-contact and protection orders have been found to be an effective tool in helping to protect victims of domestic violence. This protection can be eroded, though, by the existence of multiple orders for the same parties. Law enforcement officers sometimes find themselves having to decipher the orders when there are conflicting restrictions or modifications, both because of different dates on the orders and because they are issued out of different courts. As a result, law enforcement can have difficulty trying to determine which order to enforce. This can result in no enforcement of such orders.

The current judicial information system allows judicial officers to know if another order exists. It does not allow a judge to “see” the order so they know the specific restrictions noted in the order. This is a significant reason for duplicative and conflicting orders.
The Washington Legislature has mandated that courts consider a variety of relevant court information to improve judicial decision-making and outcomes in areas such as domestic violence protection orders, release decisions, and family courts. Judges currently do not have the ability to see the contents of protection orders and it is difficult and time consuming to have to verify information or to find details of the orders not recorded in SCOMIS, DISCUS or JIS. This lack of information impacts the judicial decision making process and the administration of justice in a timely manner and public safety.
What is the Business Problem or Opportunity

The current judicial information system (JIS) allows judicial officers to know if another order exists. It does not allow a judge to “see” the contents of the order so they know the specific restrictions noted in the order. This is a significant reason for duplicative and conflicting orders.

To allow judicial officers to “see” the contents of the orders, the orders must be scanned or made available electronically and then the content of those files must be able to be shared with the judicial officers in a timely manner.
There is a current statewide request (ITG #003 View Images Across all Trial Courts) to develop a solution to allow judicial officers and courts staff the ability to view all document images between trial courts statewide. This is a complex and large effort to resolve at the statewide level but one that is highly important for improved judicial decision-making, public safety and expedited administration of justice. Thurston County Superior Court along with the Gender & Justice Commission has researched a similar solution to make the content of protection orders available to judicial officers in Thurston County and this solution has the potential to also provide information, and a platform for a statewide solution. By implementing a Proof of Concept with Thurston County Superior Courts and potentially local District Courts on their solution, AOC will benefit from the ability to gather information on a solution working within a court, examine the risks and challenges on a detailed level, and use the information to inform and improve the outcome of a statewide solution in ITG #003.
This IT request is to implement a Proof of Concept with Thurston County Superior Court of the following solution. A grant has been submitted for the costs of hiring a vendor to implement this Proof of Concept (see attachment). There is no anticipated impact to the JIS systems or a request for funds from JISC with the proposed Proof of Concept for Thurston County at this time.
AOC Resources expected for the Proof of Concept are as follows:
  • AOC will be in a consultative role to help define Usability Requirements as well as how data is viewed and accessed by the courts and the over-site regarding development support between all parties and departments to include AOC, County and Vendor assets.
Proof of Concept Solution:
Overview of Solution:
Develop a software program that will interface with outside and third party data sets for the purpose of allowing State of Washington Court Judges in Thurston County to access in real-time, respondent or petitioning parties pending or filed no contact (NCO) and protection orders (PO). This will be done by creating a Web based reporting system with secure user level access and authentication to request a query regarding an open NCO or PO from the intended systems through a secure connection from host server running query request to intended data storage system via XML aggregation with X AWARE middle ware interface and offering “View Only Results” to querying party in a secure browser session.
Resolution Approach:
Use a secure web-based, application that will allow the review and read only access of no contact and protection orders. The judicial officer can make a query of this new software program that will access this third-party dataset (Laser Fiche and Liberty and return a set of results for “Read-Only” access to include all data about existing no contact and protection orders including a scan and PDF view of the order itself. After the review, and within a 24 hour period, this new system will “DUMP” the NCO and PO data and PDF attachments. In addition to allowing a Judge to access the NCO and PO files, the inquiring Judge also wishes to add “Additional Notes” to his/ her query list for later review by he/she only and not to be shared with other users (Judges). This saved subset of data (Additional Notes) will be archived and tied to the user profile with up to a 1-2000 character “Free-Form” comment string and associated to a NCO and PO case or file number and if the user (a Judge) wishes to re-access the NCO and PO file, he/she will need to request another file review and these files will not be stored on any server other than new NCOJRS systems for the purposes of date integrity.
NOTE: THE NEW SOFTWARE PROGRAM WILL NOT ALLOW THIS REQUESTED DATA TO BE MODIFIED OR DELETED IN ANY WAY BY A USER OF THIS NEW SYSTEM AND ALL DATA REQUESTED AND ACCESSED BY THIS NEW SYSTEM WILL ONLY BE HELD WITHIN THE SYSTEM FOR A MAX OF 24 HOUR PERIOD AND IN A TEMPORARY FILE AND ALL FILES FROM THE PREVIOUS DAY WILL BE DUMPTED AND DELETED AUTOMATICALLY BY THIS NEW SYSTEM FROM ITS DATABASE AND NOT AFFECT THE LASER FICHE SYSTEMS.
Requirements:
- Develop a unique user interface that will allow a user (a Judge) to access from a secured computer, access to remote datasets regarding details about NCO files pertaining to a case or respondent or petitioner.
- Access the Laser Fiche and Liberty database and allow for real-time and “Read Only” access for a user ( a Judge).
- Query time must be prompt and less than 10 seconds unless larger files attached
- System must be easy for users to access and query.
- “Read Only” access to this files will be allowed.
- Addition of User Notes to a NCO and PO can only be accessed by the same user and NOT shared with other users.
- System must be hosted in a secure hosting facility and staffed by skilled and trained staff for at least for one year.
- System and its use and operation must be fully documented in writing by contractor.
- Contractor must provide reasonable user training on systems and its features.
- System must be completed in less than 9 months from start to end to include staff training and documentation.
- Access to the Laser Fiche system must be made using XAware software and this project must include a supported and licensed version of the XAware product and include XAware support for 1 year.
[Please see Attachment for further details on proposed solution for Proof of Concept]
Expected Benefit:

The Washington State Legislature identified the seriousness of this problem and the need for a resolution by directing the Administrative Office of the Courts to establish a process to reconcile duplicate or conflicting orders. We believe “seeing” the order would greatly assist in solving the problem.

If the judges and court staff were able to view the contents of protection orders, decision-making would be improved, public safety would be increased and the administration of justice would be greatly expedited.
Any Additional Information:

This request is not expected to impact JIS systems and is not asking for funding from the JIS account at this time. Therefore, it is being submitted into the governance process as a Non-JIS request.

The Proof of Concept for Thurston County is supported by , Chief Justice Barbara Madsen, Chair of the Gender & Justice Commission and the Gender & Justice Commission. Also Thurston County Superior Court Judges, Betty Gould - Thurston County Clerk and the Thurston County Sheriff's Department.
Endorsement Detail
Endorsing Committee
   AOC (endorses for other communities)
Endorser Name:
   Heather Morford on behalf of Chris Ruhl, Court Services Manager
Origination Date:
   04/05/2011
Endorsing Action: Endorsed
Endorser’s Explanation and Comments

JSD Manager, Chris Ruhl has endorsed this request to move forward on the non-JIS IT Governance track.
AOC Analysis Detail
Analysis Date: 03/23/2011
Request Rationale
Aligns with JIS Business Priorities, IT Strategies & Plans: Yes
Aligns with applicable policies and with ISD Standards: Yes
Breadth of Solution Benefit: Narrow
Cost Estimates
Feasibility Study needed? No
Court Level User Group
Non-JIS
Request Summary:
This IT request is to implement a Proof of Concept with Thurston County Superior Court of the following solution. A grant has been submitted for the costs of hiring a vendor to implement this Proof of Concept (see attachment). There is no anticipated impact to the JIS systems or a request for funds from JISC with the proposed Proof of Concept for Thurston County at this time.
Business Impacts:

This would provide ISD staff an opportunity to observe a proof of concept implementation of a service that will likely be provided by AOC in the future.

Summary of Proposed Solution

Initial analysis indicated that the level of resource commitment by ISD resources to participate in this project would be less than 20 hours spread over 5 to 6 months. This level of effort does not need to be considered under the governance process. Instead, the work effort required will be documented in an Operations Level Agreement and the ISD staff will participate in this effort under the terms of that agreement.

Proposed Solution

See above.
Confirmation of Endorsing Action Detail
Endorsing Committee
   AOC (endorses for other communities)
Endorser Name:
   Morford, Heather on behalf of Chris Ruhl, Court Services
Origination Date:
   04/12/2011
Endorsing Action: Declined
Endorser’s Explanation and Comments

The analysis showed that this request does not need to continue through the Governance process due to the minimal amount of ISD resources involved. Instead the project will be documented by an Operational Level Agreement (OLA) within AOC. ISD will participate in the implementation of the Proof of Concept through the OLA.
 

Privacy and Disclaimer Notices Sitemap

© Copyright 2025. Washington State Administrative Office of the Courts.

S5