County courts now a part of Odyssey

Greene County Courts are now part of Odyssey, an on-line case management system that allows increased access to public records.

The new system allows the public around-the-clock access to court cases, giving them the chance to search up-to-date information of filings and rulings.

So far, 89 courts in 30 Indiana counties have begun placing court records on-line, said Indiana Supreme Court Justice Frank Sullivan Jr., who presented the new system Friday.

"This is a major accomplishment and the citizens of Greene County should be proud," Sullivan said. "Odyssey is done at JTAC's expense, so it saves money for Greene County taxpayers."

The justice, appointed to the state's highest court in 1993 by then-Gov. Evan Bayh, chairs the Judicial Technology and Automation Committee (JTAC).

Sullivan has overseen the transition to on-line recordkeeping, which currently has transferred 31 percent of the state's total caseload on-line.

Accompanied by Greene Circuit Court Judge Erik Allen, Superior Court Judge Dena Martin, and Clerk Susan Fowler, Sullivan demonstrated the new Odyssey system, slated to handle about 7,600 new cases annually.

Fowler's enthused about the new system.

"Before, we used a book-based system and had to look through the paper index for court records," she said. "With Odyssey, the record keeping and financial system is simplified and efficient."

Sullivan congratulated Fowler, in her first year as clerk, for her willingness to implement the program.

Noting that Minnesota, the template which Indiana used for the new program, imposes fewer responsibilities on clerks than Indiana does such as collecting judgments -- handled by attorneys making arrangements in Minnesota -- Sullivan said Fowler's staff worked hard on the new system.

He also recognized Senior Judge David Holt, congratulating him on the completion of courthouse construction.

The new system's a major step forward, and has undergone extensive testing for some time before it was officially opened to the public on Friday, said JTAC spokeswoman Kathryn Dolan.

Greene County cases from years won't be included in the system, because the amount of work would be prohibitive.

"It's my understanding that 900 cases are already on Odyssey," Martin said, thanking county workers and local attorneys for their efforts and patience. "Any time you have advances like this, you have growing pains, but everybody's been handling it very well."

Allen concurred.

"I think it went very smoothly, especially with the size of the undertaking," he said. "It's been a challenge, and I know sometimes it has been very stressful, but everyone has performed admirably, and I admire that."

The system also includes a "wild card" search which allows access to all counties currently in the system, or all cases filed or closed in a set period of time.

Notably, the transition into the electronic database won't be paid for by taxes. Instead, a fee's been attached to court filings for on-line recordkeeping.

It also allows police to file traffic citations quicker and allow greater cross-referencing, delivering an estimated 16,000 citations a week to the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Sullivan even demonstrated the merits of the system with Indiana State Police Sgt. Curt Durnil, the public information officer for Bloomington's ISP Post.

Durnil scanned Sullivan's driver's license for a simulated traffic stop, noting the online scanner not only records the license photo but can also note when data is missing or when a ticket's filled out improperly.

The scanner can also take a picture of the driver, if need be.

"Sir, I don't think you'd want this red beam in your eyes, however," Durnil said, laughing. "And it says here you had a seatbelt ticket. That can't be right?"

Sullivan grinned, then said "I would like to think not."

Still, speedier ticket and warnings mean less time officers and drivers are involved in dangerous roadside stops, and that's no laughing matter, Durnil said.

"It's not foolproof, but it's pretty close, and any time we can get a stop down to four minutes from 10, that's an obvious benefit," Durnil said.

Other benefits to the system include a database for protective orders which the state police can access quickly, with judges sending the orders electronically to law enforcement from court.

Monroe County was one of 10 counties included in the pilot program begun in December 2007.

Now, with 100 courts on the waiting list JTAC Director Mary DePrez said she expects the program could take around seven more years to implement in all 92 counties.

"I would say it's going to be a very long haul, and I would guesstimate at least another seven years. A lot of that, however, will depend on funding."

Greene County was among the first counties to implement the program, DePrez said, for two reasons:

"One reason is that officials expressed interest early on, and another reason is that the county didn't have the Legend system" a precursor to Odyssey. Presently, there are 22 different and unrelated electronic court record management systems, and most are not compatible with each other.