Exodus Causing Big Backlog for Clerk of Courts

Much of the general public is unfamiliar with the workings of different government offices because when they run smoothly, there’s not always a lot to notice. That’s the aim for our government clients as well, as we automate processes like redaction and indexing for them to avoid backlogs, privacy breaches, and to keep things efficient. The rare exception is a project like the one we’re working on for Los Angeles County, where the office is required to go over and above what a typical recorder or register of deeds might do.

When things go wrong, for any reason, is when publicity comes. We’ve seen it happen as the result of exposed personally identifiable information and even accusations of embezzlement.

The newest office that would prefer to be out of the headlines is the Dauphin County Clerk of Courts. The disorganized office has a public docket system with incorrect information which fails to inform the public and extends court proceedings, keeping people in jail longer than they potentially should be.

The confusion and delay don’t seem to be a part of anything nefarious, but as a result of a huge amount of turnover that the office has experienced. After an election in which the republican party had 14 straight years of leadership of the office, democrat Bridget Whitley prevailed, taking office in January of this year. Since then, more than 40% of the staff, including the first deputy, have resigned. This was particularly devastating to the office because of the extensive experience these employees had.

The departure of the employees was such an issue that a judicial emergency was declared directing staff from other areas of the courthouse to pitch in and help out the overworked clerk’s office. While this made a difference, the office continued to receive more work than it could handle, prompting a judicial hearing to be called at the beginning of April to get to the bottom of things.

The hearing revealed a number of issues that were occurring over and above just delays. There are appeals that haven’t been filed, missing orders for inmate transfers, delayed warrants, and even an example of an extradition case improperly marked as closed. This means prisoners are missing hearings and staying incarcerated longer than necessary while the sheriff’s office is forced to put in additional work to determine where people are supposed to be and when.

The ramifications extend to areas outside government as well like the press and family members that are trying to follow a case or attend its proceedings. New hires have received training, but these are complicated workflows so they are still learning about the documents they’re seeing and the software used to process them. This is a process that will take time to resolve, particularly with the lack of tenured employees in the office. Complicating things further is that even expedited new hires take six to eight weeks to recruit.

Regardless of the difficulty to catch up, the filings won’t stop, so it’s something the office will have to get done. While the new employees put in extra hours, the courts who conducted the hearing are planning on bringing back recommendations as the forum was meant to be constructive rather than punitive.

It all goes to show how important institutional knowledge can be and the importance of having streamlined and efficient workflows.