RiteTrack Simplifies Information Management in Whatcom County, WA
An Integrated justice information system is the holy grail of information technology for many larger municipalities. Traditionally, counties and cities developed information systems specific to each division. This left information sharing and communication between departments difficult at best.
Before RiteTrack, all case notes were kept on paper by probation officers, all statistics were drawn up by hand. When information was needed, it was only accessible through the individual probation officer. Due to space concerns, when youths were no longer under Whatcom County supervision, files were moved off-site. When youths re-entered the system, requesting and gathering information about them took time and considerable effort.
Whatcom first implemented RiteTrack’s comprehensive information management system in their Juvenile Court Administration to track clients through the court process into detention or other alternative sanctions, and eventually out into the community. For Whatcom County employees, they enter data on juveniles just once and the information follows the youths through the different stages through the legal system. This now not only saves a lot of time, but it integrates the information and allows workers to have a holistic picture of their clients at all times.
Handel’s RiteTrack significantly improves the monitoring of the juveniles in the system by providing a central place for all information relating to a youth to be kept. Legal information, detention information and social information (treatment, school, probation appointments, home visits, etc.) are all kept on RiteTrack where it is instantly accessible to authorized persons. David Reynolds, Juvenile Court Administrator explains, “If I receive a call from a parent relating to a case or probation event, from my desk I can easily access the information relating to the youth. Before we adopted RiteTrack, whenever probation officers needed to provide or obtain information about a youth being detained in our facility, they actually had to physically enter the facility and retrieve the written information, or write the information in the youth’s detention file. Now they can do this from their office without having to leave it. Often times, as well, the Court has us look up information in RiteTrack during court to determine what has been going on with the youth- last time in detention, missed probation appointments, and so on”.
Whatcom County has taken RiteTrack out into the field to the point the on an in-home visit, if probation officers need an arrest warrant, instead of having to leave, get it and come back, officers can notify judges, who can sign the warrant and through RiteTrack’s document manager have it ready on the probation officer’s laptop without worrying whether the youth will be there when they return with the warrant.
As for those statistical reports, according to Reynolds, one report used to take him 30 hours each quarter to compile. Now it takes him less than 30 seconds from start to finish.
