Court Document Coordinator (Civilianization) (Details)

Name of province/ territory:

New Brunswick

City/ Region:

Fredericton

Description of Initiative:

In 2007, the Fredericton Police Force created a plan to change the way in which we do business called “The future of Policing in Fredericton: A 5-Year Plan.” One portion of the plan spoke to the potential impact of not addressing the risk around ineffective distribution and use of resources. As a result of this exercise, the Force identified 38 recommendations, including one to civilianize the position of Summons Server. The Fredericton Police Force had assigned a police officer to full-time summons server duties. The focus of this recommendation was to hire a civilian staff person to serve the summons, freeing up salary dollars and an officer. After numerous reviews, legal opinions and consultations, it was determined that a summons and/or subpoena had to be served by a peace officer as defined in the Criminal Code of Canada. As a result, civilization of this position was unattainable.

After falling short with civilianization of these duties, a group of officers and civilian staff members were assigned to find solutions for the serving of court documents. The focus was shifted from hiring a civilian member to serve the documents to a concept of having the person named in a court document attend a police facility to pick the document up themselves. The concept was based on the premise that most people do not want police officers attending their workplace or home to serve them court documents and that many citizens would respond favourably to such a request from the police, even persons under charge for an offence.

Initiative Key Objectives:

To increase efficiency in the Summons Server’s duties and to reallocate a police officer position by having tasks completed by a civilian member of the Force.

Section Responsible for Implementation:

Administrative Support Division

Key Contact:

Marilyn Abbott-Charters
marilyn.abbott-charters@fredericton.ca

Groups/ Agencies/ Key Partners Involved:

  • other government departments/agencies

Level of Involvement (consultative - information sharing) and/or cooperative - direct involvement):

Consultative (information sharing)—The Fredericton Police Force often serves court-related documents for other agencies in the city of Fredericton and there is a reciprocal agreement in place where other agencies will serve our documents. Once the results of the pilot phase were known, the local RCMP were invited, and accepted an invitation, to view the procedures and process used.

Amount of Time Initiative has been in Place:

In March of 2010, the Fredericton Police Force officially began serving subpoenas in the above manner. Civilian clerical staff was assigned to facilitate this process, successfully freeing up a full-time police officer.

Reason for Undertaking the Initiative:

This initiative was the result of the Force’s five-year plan (Recommendation #18) and the innovative and collaborative efforts of police staff. This initiative was more of a resource solution and indirectly a fiscal initiative. By completing this initiative, a full-time officer was freed up and reallocated to another division. At this time we haven’t measured the financial savings.

Resources Required to Implement this Initiative:

A working group of in-house police employees, both civilian and police, brainstormed and created the project. A pilot project was completed and the initiative was fully implemented in 2011.

Method of Implementation:

In early 2009, a pilot project was undertaken whereby all persons named in Fredericton Police Force summons/subpoenas were sent a letter which requested that they attend the neighborhood office to pick up their summons/subpoena. The document would then be served by a working police officer.

Phase I of the pilot project implemented a workflow for court documents. A workflow handle for the Court Document Coordinator was implemented (HCD) and new codes were added to the “capacity” field on follow-up. Fifty summonses were identified for the pilot project. Through Court Assist on our records management system (RMS) the court document was attached to the applicable court folder. The paper court document was forwarded to one of the neighbourhood offices. A “request to pick up summons” form letter was generated and sent to the named person in each court document. Of the 50 documents, 38 (or 76%) were picked up by persons named in the court documents and 12 were sent to the frontline officers for service.

Phase II of the pilot project involved court documents from other agencies sent to Fredericton for service in this area. Five documents were identified for this phase of the pilot project. All five court documents were successfully tracked, picked up by the person named and forwarded back to the respective agencies. Both of these pilot projects were considered an overwhelming success.

In March of 2010, the Fredericton Police Force officially began serving subpoenas in the above manner. Civilian clerical staff was assigned to facilitate this process, successfully freeing up a full time police officer.

Key Outcomes of the Initiative:

During 2011, 856 subpoenas were sent to the neighbourhood office to be picked up by the persons named. Of this number, 590 or 69% were picked up. Members on platoons serve the remainder; they are issued to the initiating officer for service.

This process had several advantages:

  • one full-time police position freed to be assigned to other duties;
  • no further requirements to backfill this police position for vacation, sick leave, etc;
  • one assigned vehicle reallocated, and other savings found in vehicle operations (fuel, repair, insurance, etc.);
  • documents left to be served by initial investigators are easier to serve, as the officer is familiar with the person and the process is often intelligence-gathering; and
  • greater officer safety by eliminating numerous negative contacts with the public and/or criminal element.

Availability of a Communication Strategy:

Yes

Key Messages used to Publicize the Initiative:

The civilianization of the position and the related process improvement has been communicated to our city council and, because of the success of the restructuring (which resulted in cost savings and operational efficiencies) the conversion story was submitted on two separate occasions for consideration for an initiative award, one through the RMS Vendor, and the other through the New Brunswick Department of Public Safety (both were ultimately unsuccessful).

Forms of Evaluation by which the Initiative will be Assessed:

  • quantitative
  • qualitative

Evaluation Completed or Community Feedback Received:

Yes

Summary of the Outcomes:

During 2011, 856 subpoenas were sent to the neighbourhood office to be picked up by the persons named. Of this number, 590 or 69% were picked up.

This process had several advantages:

  • one full-time police position freed to be assigned to other duties;
  • no further requirements to backfill this police position for vacation, sick leave, etc;
  • one assigned vehicle reallocated, and other savings found in vehicle operations (fuel, repair, insurance, etc.);
  • documents left to be served by initial investigators are easier to serve, as the officer is familiar with the person and the process is often intelligence-gathering;
  • greater officer safety by eliminating numerous negative contacts with the public and/or criminal element; and
  • public response was very favourable—they preferred not to have a police officer attend their place of work or residence.

No formal evaluation of this initiative will be conducted.

Summary of the Performance Measure Data Collected:

N/A

Economics of Policing Pillars:

Further Details:

N/A

Additional Comments or Suggestions:

N/A

Record Entry Date:

2013-08-01

Date modified: