Courts network includes Girard

By John W. Goodwin Jr.

The system is meant to be more efficient.

GIRARD — The Girard Municipal Court will be one of only 16 across the state to participate in a new information-sharing system.

The new Ohio Courts Network system, developed by the Ohio Supreme Court, serves as a centralized warehouse of case-related information, enabling courts and justice system partners to share that information and to support functions such as criminal history reviews, warrant and protection order searches, pre-sentencing investigations, background checks, handgun pre-purchase reviews and pre-custody reviews.

Under the new system, local courts’ case management teams send data each night to the Supreme Court, which then integrates and securely stores this information and makes it available to other courts and justice system partners around the state. The system is a secure network and not open to the public.

Judge Michael Bernard of Girard Municipal Court said he is delighted to have the opportunity to take part in the system.

“They chose us, and I am very happy that they did,” he said. “They want this process to get off the ground, and we do have the computer systems in place to accomplish what they want to accomplish.”

Judge Bernard said the new system will have certain cost-saving benefits to the participating courts. He said there also will be the added benefit of more information more readily available on those coming to court.

“The more facts you have to make a better decision, the better the decision made,” Judge Bernard said.

The justice system partners’ records available through the OCN include those from the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, the Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections, the Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation criminal history database and any case-related record from local courts connected to the OCN.

It is hoped that 80 percent of the case-related data from local courts involved in the new system will be available systemwide by the end of the year.

jgoodwin@vindy.com

MUNICIPAL COURT

Information system

The Girard Municipal Court is participating in a new information-sharing program with various courts from around the state. Other courts involved in the program are:

Butler County Area Courts I, II and III. Crawford County Common Pleas Court, domestic relations and general divisions. Franklin County Common Pleas Court, domestic relations, general, juvenile and probate divisions. Hamilton County Probate Court. Hamilton Municipal Court. Hocking County Common Pleas Court, domestic relations and general divisions. Miamisburg Municipal Court. Morgan County Common Pleas Court, domestic relations, general, juvenile and probate divisions. Shaker Heights Municipal Court. Sidney Municipal Court. Union County Common Pleas Court, domestic relations and general divisions.

Source: Ohio Supreme Court