By Jesse Davis
ELKHART — Using the Internet will allow victims of violence in Indiana to obtain protective orders faster than ever before.
That’s what state and local government representatives said at the office of Elkhart County Prosecutor Curtis Hill Tuesday.
Indiana Supreme Court Justice Frank Sullivan Jr., along with state Rep. Wes Culver, R-Goshen, and Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller, announced a trial program for a new public access component of the state’s electronic protective order registry. The counties for the initial program are Elkhart, St. Joseph, Marion, Grand, Madison, Wabash, Tippecanoe and Allen.
“The new technology allows victims’ advocates to assist victims in applying for protective orders and submitting them to the court,” Sullivan said. “The new system makes it easier for victims and faster for courts, enhancing the protection that the courts, the prosecutor and the police provide.”
The former system required victims to visit the clerk’s office during business hours and fill out an inch-thick stack of paperwork in order to initiate a case, according to Sullivan.
“Under the new protection order registry, this paper is gone. Everything is done online and once the application forms are filled out online, the case is immediately created,” Sullivan said. “From that point, the case is called by the judge, and the judge, using the information that has already been entered into the system, is able with a few keystrokes on his or her keyboard in the courtroom, to create the physical document which is the order of protection or the no-contact order.”
In addition, victims will be able to enter their information at Elkhart’s women’s shelter during non-business hours.
Sullivan said the expansion is only one part of an overall effort on the part of the state Supreme Court to improve technology across all courts in the state and connect their data networks. This will be especially helpful, he said, with regard to incidents or situations that cross county lines.
“Domestic violence is no respecter of county boundaries, so if, for example, the victim is in Elkhart County, but the perpetrator is in St. Joseph County, law enforcement agencies in both Elkhart and St. Joe counties will be sent electronic copies of the protection order, knowing that they’re to provide protection to that victim,” Sullivan said. “In addition, those notices are sent electronically to the State Police state protection order registry, they become part of the criminal database for the entire state, and the United States Department of Justice, under the auspices of the FBI, maintains a national database of protection order registries, and it is also notified instantaneously.”
Victim Assistance Director Amy Bechtel elaborated on the process victims will now take.
“In Elkhart County, the system that we have set up for protective orders, the person actually comes through our victim assistance division, and the advocates within the victim assistance division of the prosecutor’s office get that paperwork started,” Bechtel said. “They fully explain that order to the person, so they know what they’re applying for and how it works, then they also will assist in filling out the applications. We’ll use our friends at the women’s shelter for perhaps evening access, weekend access. We’re starting it first in the prosecutor’s office here.”
In response to a question about file backups and fail-safe measures for the system, project manager for the protective order registry LaJuan Epperson described the standby process.
“We are confidant in our ability to keep all confidential information secure,” Epperson said. “Should the registry or should the Internet go down for any reason, we always encourage the counties to utilize their paper process, so it can be done, and then go back and enter that information in the registry as soon as the Internet is restored.”
Rep. Culver spoke briefly, sharing his support of the measure.
“I’m excited about today, because what they’re talking about here is an example every arm of government should be pursuing, and that is efficiency and improvement,” Culver said. “The way of the future is efficiency and the judicial arm of Indiana, from the Supreme Court to local, has given an example as to how that can be done. The man hours that will be saved, and woman hours, in doing this book work is tremendous.”
Zoeller gave the program his support as well.
“This new program, bringing it online, really is another step in the direction of supporting the people who are really at great risk to violence, and particularly in a down economy, where we see a lot of problems that affect the home, affect people in a very personal way,” Zoeller said.
