What kinds of violations can you safely push from state tickets to local adjudication tickets? With circuit courts consistently backlogged and officers finding themselves having to make court appearances to avoid the case from being dismissed, the citation writing process is hardly what one would refer to as convenient.
Fortunately, with advanced technology from DACRA Tech, municipalities and law enforcement have the opportunity to push certain state tickets into the far more efficient path of adjudication – all while enhancing accountability and compliance in their community.
Let’s take a closer look at how you can write more adjudication tickets than you thought possible for a host of advantages.
Administrative Adjudication Promotes Community Discussion and Education
When a community member receives a state ticket, the next immediate step for the respondent in resolving a dispute is to pay it. But in lieu of a conversation with the hearing officer, the respondent may not know why they received a ticket or explain their reasoning to an officer, who would, in turn, explain the ordinance in detail. Without this knowledge from an authority then and there, what guarantee is there that the respondent won’t receive the same type of ticket again?
Good news: It’s entirely possible to simplify this chain of events by writing administrative adjudication tickets instead, as DACRA Tech’s software enables the police officer to issue a Local Ordinance e-Citation.
As a result, we’ve found that at the adjudication hearing the community member and hearing officer can have more of a conversation about why the ticket occurred, such as if they parked in an illegal zone or if one feels the signage for that zone wasn’t clear.
At a minimum, this opens the door for a respondent to understand why the violation occurred more clearly. And since the hearing officer is striving to educate this individual, they likely won’t make the same offense twice. This positions the hearing officer as operating from a place of goodwill, looking out for the well-being of a community member.
Adjudication Saves Ample Time for Officers
Now, you might think that a conversation between an officer and a respondent who has been issued an adjudication ticket slows the legal process down versus a state ticket where both of them go directly to circuit court. You wouldn’t be far off in that assumption – except DACRA Tech streamlines and modernizes the adjudication process like never before.
How so? Consider the traditional process of past years that involved a great deal of paper. The respondent would have to be checked into the court building and receive a paper file to provide to the hearing officer.
The first time the officer sees that paper file, they have to have some time to review it – but they can’t do that later. They have to review it then and there while everyone is waiting in the hearing room.
Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be that way and can be much more efficient, as you’re about to learn.
Administrative Adjudication Technology Eliminates Ticket Processing Bottlenecks
DACRA Tech’s software solves the issue of ticket issuance, adjudication, and processing in a big way. The cloud-based software lets the hearing officer be at home or at work, reviewing the evidence before the hearing. He can click on the ticket on-screen. This way, even if the respondent says, “I don’t have my ticket,” the officer can click on a ticket and receive access to the evidence he needs to see.
GPS locator can reveal the events leading up to the adjudication. Forget manually typing out a letter and mailing it by day’s end. Instead, DACRA Tech’s software calculates the number of days until a follow-up letter should be sent according to state statutes or local ordinance regulations.
Thus, the hearing officer comes prepared, positioning themselves, the clerk, and the respondent to navigate the process far more quickly.
Adjudication Builds Increased Compliance For A Municipality
An officer uses DACRA Tech’s software to facilitate the adjudication hearing. The software gives them a terrific tool to implement a seamless and faster process for compliance. DACRA Tech brings benefits for the respondent too in delivering instructions for payment directly to the respondent, communicating how they can swiftly proceed with paying the citation, identifying any penalties for failure to address the situation, and providing them with the opportunity for a hearing if your process allows for it. These payment instructions are customizable, so every respondent and officer has the foundation for a very productive discussion.
Thanks to the technology of DACRA Tech, the highly efficient transition from citation writing to citation explanation to citation payment and resolution should encourage many municipalities to explore issuing adjudication tickets at a higher volume.
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Join DACRA Tech for a 30-minute webinar that could streamline the way your department handles violations and send it into a new era of high productivity:
“Is Your Municipality Maximizing Every Adjudication Opportunity?”
March 23, 2022
11:30 AM – 12:00 PM CT
It can be frustrating and deflating to send state tickets to the county clerk and see that they’re not getting adequately processed to a final judgment due to backlogs. Learn how you can begin to dramatically change this state of affairs for the better with a new webinar from DACRA Tech that’s perfect for:
Police Chiefs
City CIOs
City Managers
Adjudication Teams
After the webinar, one of our team members from DACRA Tech can schedule a day and time to speak with you about solutions for your specific county.
Sign up with us today at Solutions@Dacratech.com or call 847.490.8440.
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