Paperless system will replace bulletin boards and hard copy calendars
(Fort Wayne, Ind.) –Allen Superior Court has brought technology usually found at the airport into the Allen County Courthouse.
Superior Court recently launched an electronic court docket display center on the first floor of the Courthouse. Located just inside the main public entrance, on the north side of the first floor, the system displays names, schedule and courtroom information on four monitors.
Basic information about the courts, including maps and contact/room number information by topic, will be scrolled continuously on a fifth monitor. Docket information and court basics for both Allen Circuit and Superior Courts will be displayed.
“The experience of coming into Court is complicated enough without making citizens search for the basics,” said Judge Frances C. Gull. “We have worked hard in recent years to make the Courts more user friendly through technology. This is one more way to make the process more accessible to everyone.”
Due to their confidential nature, juvenile and mental health cases will not be displayed. People needing to participate in such cases will instead be directed to the correct room for guidance.
The Courthouse docket displays are similar to displays implemented at the Charles “Bud” Meeks Justice Center in 2012. Both display systems were made possible by Court Improvement Grants from the Indiana Supreme Court. The monitors were developed in partnership with Infax, a developer of custom digital display solutions, Circuit Court and the Allen County Clerk’s Office.
Allen County Building Maintenance custom-built an attractive enclosure for the system to blend the new technology with the interior architecture of the historic Courthouse. Craftsman went so far as to hand paint support columns to match adjacent century-old marble.
Superior Court intends to pursue similar docket displays elsewhere in the Courthouse as technology and budget permit. The Court is also working to add information in other languages.